“Asheville and its surrounding area in Western North Carolina boast a strong history with the arts. Penland School of Craft was founded in 1929, the Southern Highland Craft Guild started in 1930, Black Mountain College thrived from 1933 to 1957, and the Asheville Art Museum opened in 1948. More recently, Asheville’s River Arts District (RAD) began to develop in the 1990s, growing dramatically in the 2010s. Until late September 2024, it comprised more than two dozen old brick buildings and warehouses—mostly remnants of its time as an industrial hub—painted with bright murals and filled with vibrant studios, galleries, restaurants, and bars. With this rich artistic presence (which had a $3 billion economic contribution to Buncombe County in 2023), it is not surprising that, even amidst the shocking destruction and loss of life caused by Hurricane Helene, the impact on the arts community is keenly felt and widely acknowledged, even by the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. “
“I think the artists will suffer a lot of economic uncertainty. But on the other side of that I think a lot of art inspiration will come out of something so deeply felt by the artists.” —Jessica Blissett
“I feel like a small river pebble being worn round by a constant current of change. And I’m so beyond grateful for all the hugs, and prayers and folks putting in orders on my shop even though I don’t have a studio right now.” —Alice Scott
“While the waters and winds of Hurricane Helene ravaged studios and stalled practices that artists have spent their entire careers building, the tight social networks and a sense of hope remain. Artists have set up online fundraisers and raffles for friends, served meals through the World Central Kitchen (Deb Karash has helped serve tens of thousands of hot meals in downtown Asheville), and shoveled a lot of dirt and debris out of art spaces. Many are expressing optimism and sharing heart-warming experiences of fellow artists supporting one another. Blissett, for example, observed, “Those less affected at their homes donned hazmat suits and threw themselves into the cleanup. Those who lost so much still kept at the tasks at hand.” Foundation Studios conveyed the pervasive feeling of loss mixed with promise, posting on social media, “In the grand scheme of things we are lucky. This is an art gallery & studios, not a home (though it felt like it). These are things, not lives (though souls were put into them). If there’s one thing artists will do, it’s make more art!” “
Treats Studios in Spruce Pine provides a list of artists affected with links to make direct donations or support through direct sales: www.treatsstudios.org/artist-support-helene
Instagram is trying to phase out the use of hashtags.
Artist, social media influencer, and faculty expert Dina Brodsky recommends not focusing too much time on hashtags when you post.
“Honestly, they’re not really a thing anymore and it’s something that Instagram is trying to phase out.”
Unless it is a branded hashtag (when you specifically want a publication, gallery, or brand to see you), or you’re using your own: it doesn’t really matter.
3. Meet the world’s rarest mineral. It was only found once!
A single gemstone from Myanmar holds the title of Earth’s rarest mineral, kyawthuite.
“The kyawthuite crystal was discovered in 2010 by sapphire hunters in the Chaung Gyi Valley, near Mogok, Myanmar. Initially mistaken for an ordinary gem, it was later identified as unique by Dr. Kyaw Thu, a prominent mineralogist. After extensive analysis, the International Mineralogical Association (IMA) officially recognized kyawthuite as a new mineral in 2015. Today, the sole specimen resides in the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, where it is safeguarded as a geological treasure.”
4. Pewter. A Most Misunderstood Metal by Ana LopezFrom an article in Metalsmith Magazine 44(3):
“Now that pewter alloys are lead-free, a surprising number of artists are revisiting pewter’s unique qualities and complex history. Pewter is a tin-based alloy. Since tin is brittle, it is combined with other metals to improve its durability and working properties. And because it alloys easily and has a very low melting temperature, it can form a eutectic mixture with other metals, reducing the melting temperatures of each component. For metalsmiths, the nightmare scenario is heating silver that unbeknownst to them has been in contact with pewter, which leads to a meltdown in every sense.”
“Conversely, fans of pewter rave about its accessibility and forgiving nature. For example, welded pewter joints provide a seamless construction without being brittle. Pewter can be formed with wood tools, and can be melted with just a small butane torch. Since no amount of hammering, rolling, or forming will cause it to stiffen, there is no need to stop and anneal the metal. And since it’s a poor conductor, pewtersmiths can hold elements in place with masking tape while soldering with a torch. It can be liqueified in a saucepan on a hotplate and cast into a silicone mold. Scrap metal can be endlessly melted down for reuse, so nothing goes to waste. Finally, it is food safe— and considerably less expensive than silver.”
5. At the shop, I went through 3 pearl knotting instructors, and was never satisfied. Not only could their students not do a consistently good job, particularly when they tried to repeat what they learned after their classes, but also these instructors could not do a consistently good job themselves. So, after a lot of research, I wrote this book: PEARL KNOTTING…Warren’s Way.
Classic Elegance! Timeless! Architectural Perfection! Learn a simple Pearl Knotting technique anyone can do. No special tools. Beautiful. Durable. Wearable.
PEARL KNOTTING Doesn’t Need To Be Hard
In this very detailed book, with thoroughly-explained instructions and pictures, you are taught a non-traditional Pearl Knotting technique which is very easy for anyone to learn and do. Does not use special tools. Goes slowly step-by-step. Presents a simple way to tie knots and position the knots to securely abut the bead. Anticipates both appeal and functionality. Shows clearly how to attach your clasp and finish off your cords. And achieves that timeless, architectural perfection we want in our pearl knotted pieces.
Most traditional techniques are very frustrating. These can get overly complicated and awkward. They rely on tools for making and positioning the knots. When attempting to follow traditional techniques, people often find they cannot tie the knots, make good knots, get the knots close enough to the beads, nor centered between them. How to attach the piece to the clasp gets simplified or glossed over. Fortunately, Pearl Knotting doesn’t need to be this hard.
Pearl Knotting…Warren’s Way teaches you how to: • Hand-knot without tools • Select stringing materials • Begin and finish pieces by (1) attaching directly to the clasp, (2) using French wire bullion, (3), using clam shell bead tips, or, (4) making a continuous piece without a clasp • Add cord • Buy pearls, care for them, string and restring them, store them
By the end of this book, you will have mastered hand-knotting pearls.
Not comfortable showing prices online? Publish a private page.
Create a website page that is only accessible via private link, in which you feature the prices of the pieces you have on sale.
Next to your product information and image, add an INQUIRE Button.
Whenever an interested buyer asks about the prices of certain pieces, send them the private/exclusive link so they can see the works.
Also, include them immediately in your email database. Flag them as more likely to be interested in your work, because they have taken the effort to click on the INQUIRE button.
I was burnt out in my job as Director of a non-profit, health care organization when I met Jayden at a local bar. I was so bored in my job. Bored with the people I worked with. Bored with the tasks. Bored with the goals. I felt so disconnected from the field of health care. I wanted to stop the world and jump off. But into what, I had no idea.
I so much yearned for some creative spark. Some creative excitement. Something that challenged me, was artistic, was fun. And someone to do these things with. And, in 1987, I met Jayden. Jayden epitomizes creativity.
Soon after we met, Jayden moved to Nashville. But she was having difficulty finding a job. There was a recession going on at the time. At one point, I asked her what she could do, and she said that she could make jewelry. I thought we could build a business around that.
And so we did. Land of Odds was born.
Initially the business was oriented around Jayden’s design work. She made all kinds of jewelry from beads to wire to silver fabrication to lampwork. And at first, I had little interest in actually making or designing jewelry. But gradually, very gradually, I began learning the various techniques and the different kinds of materials and components. We took in a lot of repairs. I found it intellectually challenging to figure out why something broke — construction, technique, something about the wearing. I began to formalize some ideas and hypotheses into rules and principles.
Around 1998, Jayden and I wanted to offer jewelry making classes in our shop. But we did not want to repeat and replicate the types of classes already offered at other craft and bead shops in town. We did not want to do the Step-by-Step paint-by-number approach to jewelry making. We wanted to integrate architectural considerations with those of art. While we recognize that all jewelry making has some aspect of craft to it, we wanted to inspire our students to go beyond this. Jewelry beyond craft.
Over the next couple of years, with the help and guidance from many local artisans and craft teachers, we developed an educational curriculum embedded within what is called the Design Perspective. That is, our classes would teach students how to manage both beauty and functionality, and how to make the necessary tradeoffs between these within their finished pieces. Our classes would guide students in developing a literacy and fluency in jewelry design.
Eventually Jayden retired and our business began to revolve around my own designs and my developing understanding of the Design Perspective. After 35+ years in the business, I came away with some strong beliefs about what jewelry designers should be taught and how they should be taught. I’ve encapsulated all this within this text So You Want To Be A Jewelry Designer and its companion book Conquering The Creative Marketplace.
Promote your current projects, promotional copy, News & Views, videos, reels, tutorials, instructions, social media posts online in this newsletter and on our jewelry designers’ Patreon hub.
No deadlines! Opportunity available all the time. No fees. But don’t wait to take advantage of this opportunity. This copyrighted material is published here with permission of the author(s) as noted, or with Land of Odds or Warren Feld Jewelry. All rights reserved.
Repairs Stumping You? Let Me Take A Look
I take in a lot of jewelry repairs. People either bring them to me in Columbia, TN, or, I pick them up and deliver them back in Nashville. I am in Nashville at least once a week. It’s been convenient for most people to meet me at Green Hills Mall. But if not, I can come to your workplace or your home. This is perfectly fine for me. My turnaround time typically is 3-4 weeks.
I do most repairs, but I do not do any soldering. I also do not repair watches. These are the kinds of repairs I do:
o Beaded jewelry o Pearl knotting, hand knotting o Size/Length adjustment o Re-stringing o Wire work/weave/wrap o Micro macrame o Broken clasp replacfement o Earring repair o Replace lost rhinestones or gemstones o Stone setting o Stretchy bracelet o Metal working which does not involve soldering o Bead woven jewelry and purses o Beaded clothing o Custom jewelry design
WARREN FELD JEWELRY (www.warrenfeldjewelry.com) Custom Design, Workshops, Video Tutorials, Webinars, Coaching, Kits, Group Activities, Repairs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Join our community of jewelry designers on myPatreon hub Be part of a community of jewelry designers who recognize that we have a different way of thinking and doing than other types of crafters or artists. One free downloadable Mini-Lesson of your choice for all new members! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was burnt out in my job as Director of a non-profit, health care organization when I met Jayden at a local bar. I was so bored in my job. Bored with the people I worked with. Bored with the tasks. Bored with the goals. I felt so disconnected from the field of health care. I wanted to stop the world and jump off. But into what, I had no idea.
I so much yearned for some creative spark. Some creative excitement. Something that challenged me, was artistic, was fun. And someone to do these things with. And, in 1987, I met Jayden. Jayden epitomizes creativity.
Soon after we met, Jayden moved to Nashville. But she was having difficulty finding a job. There was a recession going on at the time. At one point, I asked her what she could do, and she said that she could make jewelry. I thought we could build a business around that.
And so we did. Land of Odds was born.
Initially the business was oriented around Jayden’s design work. She made all kinds of jewelry from beads to wire to silver fabrication to lampwork. And at first, I had little interest in actually making or designing jewelry. But gradually, very gradually, I began learning the various techniques and the different kinds of materials and components. We took in a lot of repairs. I found it intellectually challenging to figure out why something broke — construction, technique, something about the wearing. I began to formalize some ideas and hypotheses into rules and principles.
Around 1998, Jayden and I wanted to offer jewelry making classes in our shop. But we did not want to repeat and replicate the types of classes already offered at other craft and bead shops in town. We did not want to do the Step-by-Step paint-by-number approach to jewelry making. We wanted to integrate architectural considerations with those of art. While we recognize that all jewelry making has some aspect of craft to it, we wanted to inspire our students to go beyond this. Jewelry beyond craft.
Over the next couple of years, with the help and guidance from many local artisans and craft teachers, we developed an educational curriculum embedded within what is called the Design Perspective. That is, our classes would teach students how to manage both beauty and functionality, and how to make the necessary tradeoffs between these within their finished pieces. Our classes would guide students in developing a literacy and fluency in jewelry design.
Eventually Jayden retired and our business began to revolve around my own designs and my developing understanding of the Design Perspective. After 35+ years in the business, I came away with some strong beliefs about what jewelry designers should be taught and how they should be taught. I’ve encapsulated all this within this text So You Want To Be A Jewelry Designer and its companion book Conquering The Creative Marketplace.
SO YOU WANT TO BE A JEWELRY DESIGNER Merging Your Voice With Form
So You Want To Be A Jewelry Designer reinterprets how to apply techniques and modify art theories from the Jewelry Designer’s perspective. To go beyond craft, the jewelry designer needs to become literate in this discipline called Jewelry Design. Literacy means understanding how to answer the question: Why do some pieces of jewelry draw your attention, and others do not? How to develop the authentic, creative self, someone who is fluent, flexible and original. How to gain the necessary design skills and be able to apply them, whether the situation is familiar or not.
Join my community of jewelry designers on myPatreon hub From Warren and Land of Odds Use December’s Discount Code For Extra 25% Off @Land of Odds: DECEMBER25 www.landofodds.comDecember 1, 2024Hi everyone, Some Updates and Things Happening. (Please share this newsletter)
Did the people closest to you, your family and friends, encourage or discourage your pursuit of art as a profession? Share your experiences or thoughts on the influence friends or family have had on your pursuit of your art and/or jewelry designing.
2. I have always tried to push my jewelry making students to see themselves as professionals providing a service to others. I wrote my first book — SO YOU WANT TO BE A JEWELRY DESIGNER — with this foremost in my mind. If I were teaching an undergraduate college class in jewelry design, this would be my textbook.
Jewelry making has aspects of craft to it, but it is so much more. It is art. It is architecture. It is communicative and interactive. It moves with the person wearing it. It is reflective of the jewelry designer’s hand. And it defines and reaffirms the narrative stories of everyone who wears it, views it, buys it, exhibits it, collects it, talks about it.
To go beyond craft, the jewelry designer needs to become literate in this discipline called Jewelry Design. Literacy means understanding how to answer the question: Why do some pieces of jewelry draw your attention, and others do not? How to develop the authentic, creative self, someone who is fluent, flexible and original. How to gain the necessary design skills and be able to apply them, whether the situation is familiar or not.
Craft and art techniques and theories are of little help. These do not show how to make trade-offs between beauty and functionality. Nor how to introduce pieces publicly. These provide weak rules for determining when a piece of jewelry is finished and successful. Often, the desires and motivations of wearers, viewers and buyers are minimized or ignored.
So You Want To Be A Jewelry Designer reinterprets craft techniques, modifies art theories, and introduces architectural, socio-cultural and perceptual-cognitive considerations so that jewelry makers are better prepared to approach design.
By the end of So You Want To Be A Jewelry Designer, established jewelry artisan Warren Feld teaches you how to • Select materials, techniques and technologies • Choose, compose, construct and manipulate jewelry design elements • Anticipate expectations, perceptions, values and desires of client audiences • Develop those soft skills of creativity, inspiration, aspiration and passion
Warren Feld examines with you all those things which lead to your success as a jewelry designer, and your associated design practice or business.
This book is for someone who wants to develop that strategic kind of thinking and speaking and doing which underly their discipline we call Jewelry Design. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Why I wrote this book and acknowledgements AN INTRODUCTION
1. JEWELRY BEYOND CRAFT: GAINING A DISCIPLINARY LITERACY AND FLUENCY IN DESIGN
2. GETTING STARTED 2a. BECOMING THE BEAD ARTIST AND JEWELRY DESIGNER: The Ongoing Tensions Between Inspiration and Form 2b. BECOMING THE BEAD ARTIST AND JEWELRY DESIGNER: 5 Essential Questions Every Jewelry Designer Should Have An Answer For 2c. GETTING STARTED: CHANNELING YOUR EXCITEMENT 2d. GETTING STARTED: DEVELOPING YOUR PASSION 2e. GETTING STARTED: CULTIVATING YOUR PRACTICE
3. WHAT IS JEWELRY, Really?
4. MATERIALS, TECHNIQUES AND TECHNOLOGIES 4a. MATERIALS: Knowing What To Know 4b. TECHNIQUES AND TECHNOLOGIES: Knowing What To Do 4c. MIXED MEDIA / MIXED TECHNIQUES
5. RULES OF COMPOSITION, CONSTRUCTION, AND MANIPULATION 5a. JEWELRY DESIGN COMPOSITION: PLAYING WITH BUILDING BLOCKS CALLED DESIGN ELEMENTS 5b. THE JEWELRY DESIGNER’S APPROACH TO COLOR 5c. POINT, LINE, PLANE, SHAPE, FORM, THEME: Creating Something Out Of Nothing 5d. JEWELRY DESIGN PRINCIPLES: COMPOSING, CONSTRUCTING, MANIPULATING 5e. HOW TO DESIGN AN UGLY NECKLACE: The Ultimate Designer’s Challenge / You Be The Judge 5f. ARCHITECTURAL BASICS OF JEWELRY DESIGN: Building In The Necessary Support and Structure 5g. ARCHITECTURAL BASICS OF JEWELRY DESIGN: Anatomy of a Necklace 5h. ARCHITECTURAL BASICS OF JEWELRY DESIGN: Sizing
6. DESIGN MANAGEMENT 6a. THE PROFICIENT DESIGNER: The Path To Resonance 6b. JEWELRY DESIGN: A Managed Process 6c. COMPONENT BASED DESIGN SYSTEMS: Building Both Efficiency As Well As Effectiveness Into Your Jewelry Designs
7. INTRODUCING YOUR DESIGNS PUBLICLY 7a. SHARED UNDERSTANDINGS AND DESIRES: THE CONVERSATION CENTERED WITHIN A DESIGN 7b. “BACKWARD-DESIGN” IS FORWARDS THINKING
8. DEVELOPING THOSE INTUITIVE SKILLS WITHIN 8a. CREATIVITY ISN’T FOUND, IT’S DEVELOPED 8b. INSPIRATION AND ASPIRATION 8c. YOUR PASSION FOR DESIGN: Finding It, Developing It, and Embedding It In Your Designs
9. JEWELRY IN CONTEXT 9a. CONTEMPORARY JEWELRY IS NOT A “LOOK” — IT’S A WAY OF “THINKING” 9b. CONTEMPORIZING TRADITIONAL JEWELRY: Transitioning From Conformity To Individuality 9c. Fashion-Style-Taste-Art-Design: Coordinating Aesthetics With Pleasure 9d. Designing With The Brain In Mind: Perception, Cognition, Sexuality 9e. SELF CARE
10. TEACHING DISCIPLINARY LITERACY: Strategic Learning in Jewelry Design
SOME FINAL WORDS BY WARREN FELD ABOUT WARREN FELD OTHER ARTICLES AND TUTORIALS BY WARREN FELD
3. If you’re lacking confidence when pricing your art… Set a price at which you’ll sell the maximum number of pieces, and achieve the maximum profit for your business. Your goal: a consistent and steady level of sales (the price can’t prohibit most interested buyers from buying). Flipside: don’t price it so low that you’re not generating profit for yourself (or any gallery you apply to). “To do this, start by understanding your baselines: what does it cost to produce? What is the framing cost? Time?”
4. “Is my art good enough to be in boutiques and galleries?”
There is always a boutique or gallery out there in which you can show your jewelry.
Just like there are jewelry designers at every phase of development & progression, the same is true for boutiques and galleries (at every level of development).
As the boutique or gallery becomes more established and grows, they will become able to be more selective and assertive.
“Our job, especially in the early phases, is to show our work to as many boutiques and galleries as possible. Find those that are interested in your work, and grow right along with your galleries.”
5. It’s approaching the end of the year. You might have some excess inventory that you need to sell, and want to take advantage of the season to promote a sale.
Feel free to use or adapt either of these two images (my copyright so you have full permission) in your marketing:
6. People are often hesitant about signing up for coaching services. One thing we don’t think about as much when it comes to finding the motivation to be consistent with your jewelry designing is something I talk about a lot in other contexts: Know Thyself.
This is something I work on with designers when coaching them. When I’m struggling with consistency, it’s not the same mayhem necessarily that you’re working with. Our remedies are going to be different potions. We have to do the work to know who we are, to look honestly and as objectively as possible at our patterns, and to understand why we struggle with certain things.
If you’re getting pummeled by procrastination, what’s behind it? Fear? What are you afraid of? Why?
Is your tendency toward perfectionism? Where’s that rooted?
Wondering why you’re not getting the sales you anticipated?
Got shiny object syndrome? Always looking for the next thing to pull you in and not letting yourself mature into something remarkable? What part of you thinks it’s being nourished by that pattern?
There’s a lot we can do to motivate and channel creative effort, but it’s all going to be short-lived if we don’t get to the root of our patterns. So who are you and what are your actions and mindsets that are in the way of your motivation?
I hope you’ll give yourself some time to consider these questions. If you’re ready for support in this critical exploration, review my COACHING services. Book your coaching session now.
— Warren
7. People are always wondering what types of jewelry I make. This is how I describe my personal jewelry making style.
My Personal Style My personal style centers on a few key elements. I like to…
– Mix colors in unexpected ways, particularly colors you would not ordinarily assume would complement one another
– Use a lot of what are called “grays”, such as black diamond, montana blue, colorado topaz, alexandrite, and other “simultaneity effects”
– Combine both bead weaving, bead stringing, and wire-working techniques within the same piece, but typically the emphasis is on bead weaving techniques.
– Modify traditional weaving and stringing techniques or come up with my own new ones– I’m very experimental
– Define and play with forms and themes, and thresholds, frames and transitions from one form to the next
– Have pieces that emphasize the sensual and sexual
– Create unusual, unexpected placement of shapes, such as using curved tubes where you might expect a straight tube instead, or using a cube where you would expect a flat rondelle
– Add dimensionality, curvature, and interlocking forms, where I can, to make my pieces both fashionable and contemporary
– Add a sense of movement and move-ability, wherever possible, and likewise, anticipate the aesthetic and functional impacts and effects which come from movement when worn
– Push the limits of, and experiment with, the materials and techniques I am using
– Organize my pieces into Series I call “Collections.” For each Collection, I study a particular culture or technique or design theory, and play with what I’ve learned. How can I adopt what I’ve learned to my individual style and approach? Each Collection, then, is a personal challenge of expression and expressiveness.
– Consider that both the art (appeal) and architecture (function) goals both must be satisfied to the fullest, which most often requires making tradeoffs in design,
– Believe that jewelry can be judged as art only as it is worn, thus, designed in anticipation of this principle.
8. Some Quick Notes a. Added 70 new colors, size 11/0 Miyuki seed beads to Land of Odds catalog. Shop here.
b. Added 130 new colors, delicas (size 11/0) to Land of Odds catalog. Shop here.
c. Added 159 new colors, size 8/0 Miyuki seed beads to Land of Odds catalog. Shop here.
d. Added 202 new colors, size 6/0 Miyuki seed beads to Land of Odds catalog. Shop here.
“Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing.” / Georgia O’Keeffe
WARREN FELD JEWELRY (www.warrenfeldjewelry.com) Custom Design, Workshops, Video Tutorials, Webinars, Coaching, Kits, Group Activities, Repairs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Join our community of jewelry designers on myPatreon hub Be part of a community of jewelry designers who recognize that we have a different way of thinking and doing than other types of crafters or artists. One free downloadable Mini-Lesson of your choice for all new members! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some Updates and Things Happening. (Please share this newsletter)
1. I have been participating with the Columbia TN Arts Council over the last several months. Their major tasks are to develop a sense of community among artists (broadly defined), and a sense of place in a several block area off the downtown identified as the Columbia Arts District. I wrote a visioning plan for this District which I want to share, and welcome any feedback and ideas for programs, and community and economic development.
The Columbia ARTS DISTRICT (CAD) was created to provide a haven for artists to live and work. The CAD is located a few blocks from Downtown Columbia in the South Garden/High Street area. The City has established historic zoning overlays to protect historic and cultural assets that include distinct neighborhoods like the ARTS DISTRICT. The area currently comprises several blocks of old warehouses, old houses (some historically significant), mobile homes and manufactured homes, and vacant lots. One warehouse building was turned into a multi-story mix of artist studios, retail spaces, coffee house, some office space. There are some restaurants and specialty shops in the District, but not many. Columbia is a small town of about 45,000 residents, growing 2–3% annually, and is located about 45 miles south of Nashville.
The BIG question for me was whether you can create a community-based Arts District, where the focus and energy emerge from how the community interacts with and finds meaningful experiences within the space, rather than focusing on physical design per se.
My SECONDARY question was whether a District designed to bring artists to live, work and play together can remain competitively viable over time, or will the community either lose interest or will the area become so attractive that gentrification negates its original reason for being. Time will tell, … as will smart thinking, planning, and cooperative partnering.
What makes a space into a place? Placemaking inspires people to collectively reimagine and reinvent public spaces as the heart of every community. Strengthening the connection between people and the places they share, placemaking refers to a collaborative process by which we can shape our public realm in order to maximize shared value. More than just promoting better urban design, placemaking facilitates creative patterns of use, paying particular attention to the physical, cultural, and social identities that define a place and support its ongoing evolution.
Great public spaces are those places where celebrations are held, social and economic exchanges occur, friends run into each other, and cultures mix. They are the “front porches” of our public institutions — libraries, field houses, schools — where we interact with each other and government. When these spaces work well, they serve as the stage for our public lives.
3. I encourage you to take advantage of the very low prices of delica beads on the Land of Odds website.
Compare Our Prices To What You Are Paying:
In this monthly newsletter, occasionally, like in this newsletter, you will find a discount coupon code that you can use on the Land of Odds website.
You can also become a paid subscribing member on our Jewelry Designers’ Patreon Hub, which entitles you to a 25% discount as long as you maintain your subscription.
4. If you have the resources, I strongly suggest you look into furthering your jewelry design education by attending a degree program. Here are the top 30 jewelry design programs in the United States:
Here are some of the leading jewelry design programs in the United States, known for their specialized curriculums, faculty expertise, and facilities. While specific rankings can vary by source, these schools are widely regarded as some of the best for jewelry design.
1. Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) — Providence, RI
Offers a strong focus on metalwork, traditional jewelry techniques, and contemporary design principles.
2. Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) — Savannah, GA
Provides a comprehensive approach with state-of-the-art facilities and focuses on various facets of jewelry design and business.
3. Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) — New York, NY
Known for hands-on learning and access to New York City’s fashion and jewelry industry.
4. California College of the Arts (CCA) — San Francisco, CA
Emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches and sustainable design practices.
5. Parsons School of Design — New York, NY
Offers access to an extensive network in the fashion and luxury sectors, with an emphasis on innovative design.
6. Pratt Institute — Brooklyn, NY
Known for a strong arts program and a metal/jewelry design program focused on both technical skills and creativity.
7. Cranbrook Academy of Art — Bloomfield Hills, MI
Known for a small student body and intensive, personalized instruction.
8. University of the Arts — Philadelphia, PA
Offers a jewelry and metals program that includes contemporary jewelry, metalsmithing, and interdisciplinary work.
9. School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) — Chicago, IL
Known for an experimental approach that blends traditional and digital techniques.
10. Temple University’s Tyler School of Art — Philadelphia, PA
Focuses on combining creative expression with technical skill development.
11. University of Washington — Seattle, WA
Known for a broad curriculum that includes both traditional metalworking and experimental materials.
12. Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) — Richmond, VA
Offers a BFA in Craft and Material Studies with a focus on metals and jewelry.
13. SUNY New Paltz — New Paltz, NY
Known for its Metal/Jewelry Design program that integrates both artistic development and technical skill.
14. Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) — Boston, MA
Offers a program with a focus on metalsmithing, jewelry, and art history.
15. University of Oregon — Eugene, OR
Known for a jewelry program that encourages both traditional and experimental methods.
16. California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) — Long Beach, CA
Offers a BFA in 3D Media focusing on metal and jewelry arts.
17. University of Georgia — Athens, GA
Strong focus on craftsmanship and a broad approach to metal and jewelry design.
18. University of Kansas — Lawrence, KS
The jewelry and metals program is known for its commitment to traditional techniques and design principles.
19. Texas State University — San Marcos, TX
Offers a BFA with a concentration in Metals and Jewelry, focusing on both technique and conceptual development.
20. Indiana University Bloomington — Bloomington, IN
Known for its craft-focused metalsmithing program, including traditional and contemporary approaches.
21. North Bennet Street School — Boston, MA
Provides a specialized training program in jewelry-making with a focus on bench skills and craftsmanship.
22. College for Creative Studies (CCS) — Detroit, MI
Focuses on both jewelry and metalsmithing, providing a solid technical foundation.
23. Kent State University — Kent, OH
Offers a jewelry/metals concentration that emphasizes craftsmanship and innovative design.
24. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign — Champaign, IL
Known for an interdisciplinary approach, blending jewelry design with broader art and design disciplines.
25. Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) — Rochester, NY
The School for American Crafts at RIT is highly regarded for its jewelry and metals programs.
26. Appalachian State University — Boone, NC
Offers a focused jewelry and metals concentration that emphasizes skill development and conceptual work.
27. University of North Texas (UNT) — Denton, TX
Known for a metals and jewelry program that encourages experimentation and craftsmanship.
28. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) — Milwaukee, WI
Provides a curriculum that emphasizes both skill and design in jewelry-making.
29. Arizona State University (ASU) — Tempe, AZ
Offers a robust jewelry program as part of its larger art program, with access to a variety of tools and techniques.
30. Oregon College of Art and Craft (OCAC) — Portland, OR
Although it closed in 2019, its legacy remains influential, and several of its faculty and alumni continue to contribute to the field.
Each program has unique strengths, from technical skills to conceptual approaches and connections to the industry.
5. I wanted to share this email I received from Miguel Mayher at the Professional Artists Assn. We were beginning to discuss the need to be consistent in using Instagram and Emails to promote our businesses. I had brought up that it was difficult to maintain my motivation, especially given the time it takes to use social media.
Hi warren feld,
Yesterday, we talked about feeling overwhelmed.
Overwhelmed by the amount of energy and time that seems required to stay up to date on Instagram & your Email Newsletters.
And how that can hold you back from getting the consistent art income you desire.
Today, I want to dive deeper into why this feeling is SO COMMON in artists and what’s actually causing it.
📱 There are over *2 billion* monthly active users on Instagram. 🤯 And when you open the feed, it can be overwhelming. 🙅🏻♀️ It’s enough to make an established artist yell “nope!”…
…and close the app immediately, never to open it again.
Avoiding Instagram & Email doesn’t just stop you from using the tools, it also affects your entire “sharing your journey” workflow.
Some artists hold their cards close to their chest, but then expect strangers to buy the finished artwork at first glance.
Because when you’re opposed to these tools (and yes, they are just tools), you’re left waiting until you finish every artwork before you share it.
Or even worse — waiting for your next “show” to announce it to the world.
Then your audience doesn’t feel like they were part of that creative process… …they are not invested in your artist journey… …because you are not sharing it with them.
And so surprise, surprise… they are not “bought in”.
Maybe you do end up sending that jam-packed newsletter with a smorgasbord of updates about the last 6 months…
….not QUITE what you wanted, but you settle, “good enough I guess…”.
And a whole world of steady monthly direct sales seems out of reach for you.
Here’s the truth though… it’s not your fault:
Instagram is a hungry beast and the algorithm does reward consistency.
Emails are easy for writers, using WORDS, but not for most visual artists.
So without a good framework to simplify all this, it’s natural to get lost.
The big problem is the time and energy required to keep the Instagram & Email wheels turning…
👨👩👧👦 Competes with your family time 🎨 Competes with your studio time 🤹♀️ Competes with “life’s demands” time
And so how can you justify investing your precious time and energy in them?
You don’t have a simple system to navigate the sea of online art marketing.
If you had a clear system, it’d be hard to get lost, even if you’re an introvert.
I have an amazingly simple framework to share with you at the end of this week, but for now, here’s some encouragement…
❌ You DON’T need to POST EVERY DAY. ❌ You DON’T need to EMAIL EVERY WEEK.
And most importantly… stop thinking of your newsletters as NEWS.
Start thinking of them as Letters, or even better, POSTCARDS.
They are a casual conversation. Ideally one single topic per email. And they either share your journey… or give an opportunity to buy from you.
No middle ground.
I know even this is a lot easier said than done, but don’t worry, over the next few days I’ll be holding your hand and helping you out.
In tomorrow’s email, I’ll share a simple framework that will help you look at your online marketing as an enjoyable documenting of your journey.
Even if you are not a writer.
Talk soon,
Miguel
Director of Education The Professional Artist Association ProfessionalArtist.com P.S. Remember, feeling overwhelmed is normal, but it doesn’t have to stop you.
6. I’ve added additional articles to my collection HOW TO BEAD A ROGUE ELEPHANT. Check these out:
TRANSITIONS A piece of jewelry is a series of sections, each integral to the piece, which must flow together visually and functionally. For example, transitioning from the strap to the centerpiece. How the jewelry designer manages the transitions between each section will determine to a great degree the success of the piece.
DOUBT / SELF-DOUBT For the novice, all that excitement at the beginning, when thinking about making jewelry and making some pieces, sometimes collides with a wall of developing self-doubt. It’s not easy to quiet a doubt. Doubt may hold you back, but it can also be seen as an opportunity.
But the artist appeals to that part of our being which is not dependent on wisdom, to that in us which is a gift and not an acquisition- and, therefore, more permanently enduring. He speaks to our capacity for delight and wonder, to the sense of mystery surrounding our lives; to our sense of pity, and beauty, and pain; to the latent feeling of fellowship with all creation- and to the subtle but invincible conviction of solidarity that knits together the loneliness of innumerable hearts, to the solidarity in dreams, in joy, in sorrow, in aspirations, in illusions, in hope, in fear, which binds men to each other, which binds together all humanity- the dead to the living and the living to the unborn. / Joseph Conrad
8. Now is a good time to begin planning for enrichment travel and skills development opportunities you might take advantage of in 2025. Here are some ideas:
Here are 20 jewelry-related travel and learning opportunities in 2025, perfect for designers and enthusiasts who want hands-on experience, cultural immersion, and networking:
Tucson Gem and Mineral Show — This iconic show offers a variety of workshops in jewelry making and design (Feb 8–11, Tucson, AZ). More information: Tucson Gem and Mineral Show.
Colors of the Stone — Held in Tucson alongside the Gem Show, with classes in bead making, metal clay, enameling, and more (Feb 1–8, 2025). Details: Colors of the Stone
Santa Fe Symposium — An annual jewelry technology conference, ideal for designers interested in advanced techniques and business insights (Santa Fe, NM). Find details at Santa Fe Symposium.
Pasadena Bead & Design Show — Featuring jewelry making and design workshops, Pasadena’s show offers a space for artists and buyers (Jan 17–19, 2025). Learn more: Bead & Design Shows
Studio di Mare — Sogni d’Oro — In Italy, join immersive jewelry retreats that blend cultural exploration with expert-led classes in enameling and stone setting (Summer 2025, San Mango Piemonte). More info: Studio di Mare
Great Bead Escape Retreat — A jewelry workshop retreat in Florida offering classes by skilled instructors, suitable for beginners and experienced crafters alike (April 23–27, 2025, Live Oak, FL). Explore more: The Great Bead Escape
Marin Arts & Crafts Show — A blend of jewelry and fine arts workshops in a scenic setting, ideal for creatives (Mar 7–9, 2025, San Rafael, CA). Details at Marin Arts & Crafts Show.
Jewelry Arts Academy — Florence — Offers jewelry design and goldsmithing programs with Italian artisans in Florence. Contact them at Jewelry Arts Academy.
SNAG Conference — Society of North American Goldsmiths hosts its annual conference with workshops and talks on metalsmithing and jewelry (Spring 2025, Location TBA). Info: SNAG Conference.
Ecole des Arts Joailliers — A prestigious Parisian school offering workshops and courses on traditional French jewelry techniques. Check out L’École Van Cleef & Arpels.
Penland School of Craft — Located in North Carolina, Penland offers workshops in metalworking and jewelry design throughout the year. Discover more: Penland School.
Istanbul Jewelry Show — Workshops and networking in a historic jewelry hub, with thousands of international jewelers (March 2025, Istanbul, Turkey). Info at Istanbul Jewelry Show.
John C. Campbell Folk School — This school in North Carolina provides jewelry and metalsmithing workshops year-round in a peaceful, rural setting. See John C. Campbell Folk School.
Munich Jewellery Week — An annual celebration of contemporary jewelry art in Munich, Germany, with exhibitions, talks, and workshops (March 2025). Visit Munich Jewellery Week.
Craft in America Jewelry Residency — A Los Angeles residency offering workshops, talks, and mentorship for emerging jewelers. Find out more at Craft in America.
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts — Tennessee-based school offers multi-day workshops in metals and jewelry design. Learn more: Arrowmont.
American Jewelry Design Council Workshop — A one-day workshop for emerging jewelry artists in the U.S. More details: AJDC.
Jewelry Studies International — Offers annual workshops in Austin, Texas, on topics like CAD jewelry design and hand engraving. See Jewelry Studies International.
Walnut Creek Bead & Design Show — A bead and jewelry show with classes in techniques like chainmaille and wire wrapping (Mar 21–23, 2025). Details: Bead & Design Shows
Jewelry Design Lab NYC — Based in New York City, this lab offers short-term and seasonal classes in modern jewelry-making techniques. Find out more at Jewelry Design Lab NYC.
These programs provide a diverse range of learning, travel, and cultural experiences to enhance skills and deepen your appreciation of jewelry design worldwide.
Some more ideas:
1. Gemstone Mining Experience in Sri Lanka
Travel to Sri Lanka to visit traditional sapphire mines, learn about sourcing gemstones, and attend workshops on stone cutting and polishing.
2. Jewelry Design Retreat in Bali
Join a retreat focused on traditional Balinese silversmithing techniques, including hands-on workshops with local artisans.
3. Italian Goldsmithing Tour in Florence, Italy
Explore Florence’s historic goldsmithing district, including visits to renowned ateliers and classes on classic Italian jewelry techniques.
4. Diamond District Tour in Antwerp, Belgium
Gain exclusive insights into the diamond trade with a behind-the-scenes tour of Antwerp’s Diamond District and attend a masterclass on diamond grading.
5. Native American Jewelry Workshop in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Discover Native American jewelry traditions with workshops led by expert artisans in silver and turquoise jewelry.
6. Gemstone Safari in Tanzania
Participate in a guided tour of Tanzanian tanzanite mines, with sessions on gem selection, sourcing ethics, and jewelry design.
7. Paris Jewelry Week
Attend Paris Jewelry Week, featuring exhibitions, workshops, and networking events with prominent European designers and jewelry houses.
8. Jewelry Design Masterclass in Jaipur, India
Study Indian jewelry design, from enameling to intricate gemstone settings, with local artisans in the “Pink City,” Jaipur.
9. Silversmithing Workshop in Taxco, Mexico
Taxco is famous for silver. Join a workshop to learn silver jewelry crafting techniques from skilled Mexican artisans.
10. Luxury Jewelry Show Tour in Dubai
Tour Dubai’s high-end jewelry markets, attend the International Jewellery Show, and visit the Gold Souk for an insider look at the luxury jewelry industry.
11. Art Deco Jewelry Tour in New York City
A guided tour through New York’s Art Deco landmarks and workshops focusing on jewelry inspired by this iconic style.
12. Lapidary Arts Course in Idar-Oberstein, Germany
Idar-Oberstein is known for its gem-cutting industry. Attend a course on lapidary arts and gem faceting techniques.
13. Pearl Cultivation Workshop in Okinawa, Japan
Learn about pearl farming in Okinawa with tours of pearl farms, plus hands-on sessions in pearl grading and jewelry design.
14. Scandinavian Design Tour in Copenhagen, Denmark
A guided tour focusing on Scandinavian jewelry design, featuring visits to design museums, workshops, and jewelry houses.
15. Thai Gold and Gemstone Tour in Bangkok, Thailand
Explore Bangkok’s gem and gold markets, attend workshops on Thai goldsmithing, and learn about local jewelry design traditions.
16. Russian Enameling and Filigree Workshop in St. Petersburg
Learn traditional Russian techniques of enameling and filigree in a workshop setting in historic St. Petersburg.
17. Artisanal Gold Mining Tour in Colombia
Visit artisanal gold mines in Colombia and attend workshops focused on sustainable and ethical jewelry sourcing.
18. Swiss Watchmaking and Jewelry Workshop in Geneva, Switzerland
Discover Swiss craftsmanship with a combination of jewelry-making and watchmaking workshops and factory tours.
19. African Beadwork and Jewelry Design Tour in Ghana
Join a cultural tour and workshop on traditional African beadwork and jewelry-making in Ghana’s artisan villages.
20. Modern Jewelry Design Course in Barcelona, Spain
Attend a design-intensive course focusing on modern techniques, including 3D jewelry design, hosted in Barcelona.
These trips offer unique learning experiences, hands-on practice, and exposure to global jewelry design techniques and cultures.
That’s it for now! There is a lot of creative expression all around the world right now. Hope you get to experience a lot of it, either first hand, or through social media online.
WSF
SOME POSTS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:
(1) HOLD THEIR ATTENTION WITH TEXT HOOKS One way of keeping and holding someone’s attention is to use what is called a text hook or verbal hook at the beginning — literally within the first 2 seconds.
(3) How To Bead A Rogue Elephant: DOUBT AND SELF-DOUBT For the novice, all that excitement at the beginning, when thinking about making jewelry and making some pieces, sometimes collides with a wall of developing self-doubt. It’s not easy to quiet a doubt. Doubt may hold you back, but it can also be seen as an opportunity.
(4) How To Bead A Rogue Elephant: TRANSITIONS A piece of jewelry is a series of sections, each integral to the piece, which must flow together visually and functionally. For example, transitioning from the strap to the centerpiece. How the jewelry designer manages the transitions between each section will determine to a great degree the success of the piece.
(6) COLUMBIA ARTS DISTRICT: CASE STUDIES There are many approaches various towns and cities have taken when finding that mix of art and planning necessary for revitalization, and community and economic development.
(7) COLUMBIA TENNESSEE ARTS DISTRICT VISIONING PLAN Establishing an arts identity can take many directions. A vibrant arts scene no longer means a street lined with art galleries. It can include a broader segment of the creative community — theatre, music, writing, crafts, fashion, media arts, applied arts and graphic design, interior design. The specific arts identity for any community is shaped by those arts for which a community has a special affinity for, as well as the types of assets available to support those arts.
Feature your jewelry Here next week In This Newsletter, as well as, on our Jewelry Designer’s Hub!
Promote your current projects, promotional copy, News & Views, videos, reels, tutorials, instructions, social media posts online in this newsletter and on our jewelry designers’ Patreon hub.
No deadlines! Opportunity available all the time. No fees.
But don’t wait to take advantage of this opportunity.
“Our story is rooted in the personal testimony of our founder, B. Batson-Paculabo, which tells of how she overcame a low season of adversity with a God encounter and answered prayers that led to liberation and unlocking gifts from within.”
This copyrighted material is published here with permission of the author(s) as noted, or with Land of Odds or Warren Feld Jewelry. All rights reserved.
Repairs Stumping You? Let Me Take A Look
I take in a lot of jewelry repairs. People either bring them to me in Columbia, TN, or, I pick them up and deliver them back in Nashville. I am in Nashville at least once a week. It’s been convenient for most people to meet me at Green Hills Mall. But if not, I can come to your workplace or your home. This is perfectly fine for me. My turnaround time typically is 3–4 weeks.
I do most repairs, but I do not do any soldering. I also do not repair watches. These are the kinds of repairs I do:
o Beaded jewelry o Pearl knotting, hand knotting o Size/Length adjustment o Re-stringing o Wire work/weave/wrap o Micro macrame o Broken clasp replacfement o Earring repair o Replace lost rhinestones or gemstones o Stone setting o Stretchy bracelet o Metal working which does not involve soldering o Bead woven jewelry and purses o Beaded clothing o Custom jewelry design
WARREN FELD JEWELRY (www.warrenfeldjewelry.com) Custom Design, Workshops, Video Tutorials, Webinars, Coaching, Kits, Group Activities, Repairs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Join our community of jewelry designers on my Patreon hub Be part of a community of jewelry designers who recognize that we have a different way of thinking and doing than other types of crafters or artists. One free downloadable Mini-Lesson of your choice for all new members! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Access an ever-expanding library of articles, videos, podcast episodes, charts, and graphs available 24/7. Whether you’re interested in the latest trends in jewelry design and techniques or problem-solving at the bench, we have a wealth of information ready to help you learn, grow, and thrive.
Tons of info about jewelry and every kind of technique of jewelry making.
b. The 2024 Summer Design Challenge Winning Design
Matthew Piorkowski’s winning piece, “Interstellar”, features a stunning fantasy-cut octagon ametrine showcased in a custom yellow-gold pendant setting. Centered on the bail is a brilliant square-shaped diamond with sixteen accenting diamonds along the left side of the pendant mounting, creating visual interest along the path of the diamonds.
Rio Grande runs a seasonal challenge called For the Love of Jewelers Design Challenge. They haven’t announced winter or spring submissions rules yet. Check on their website: www.riogrande.com
In the ever-evolving world of artificial intelligence, the ability to create photorealistic images has become a groundbreaking achievement. ChatAI‘s Image Generator, powered by advanced Stable Diffusion models, offers users the tools to create images that blur the line between reality and AI-generated art. This article will guide you through the 7 steps to create photorealistic images with Stable Diffusion, focusing on the art of prompting. We’ll start by explaining what photorealistic images are, delve into the concept of Stable Diffusion, and then provide a step-by-step guide to crafting effective prompts. At the end, we will share 15 example prompts to inspire your creativity.
3. I encourage you to take advantage of the very low prices of delica beads on the Land of Odds website.
Compare Our Prices To What You Are Paying:
In this monthly newsletter, occasionally, like in this newsletter, you will find a discount coupon code that you can use on the Land of Odds website.
You can also become a paid subscribing member on our Jewelry Designers’ Patreon Hub, which entitles you to a 25% discount as long as you maintain your subscription.
4. 🎭 As a jewelry designer, it is important to identify your direction, voice, & identity.
Direction is understanding what work you want to make, and why you are making it (your emotional response to your work).
Voice is your unique take on your work’s descriptions and your unique way of portraying messages within your work.
Identity is about what you have experienced: what makes you you, including aspects like your family or where you grew up.
5. I’m always faulting craft show vendors for not having good enough signage for their booths. Recently, I came across this sign, and liked it.
6. What does jewelry sound like, I, for no particular reason, asked myself the other day, so I went to take a look.
To my surprise, there are thousands of jewelry sound effects. There are sounds the jewelry makes when someone wears it. There are sounds the jewelry makes when someone makes it.
7. Sometimes, as jewelry designers, we feel we don’t have the luxury of great access to resources — support, money, materials. There are opportunities available to you. Read the first of what will be a series of articles about this here.
NOTE: The word “artist” is often used in these opportunities, but in most cases, you should take this to be broadly defined, to include jewelry makers and fine craftspersons,
“Often burdened with a bad reputation, an artist’s career is not the easiest path.
It’s true, that unstable income is not particularly reassuring in a world increasingly governed by financial power. After graduation, many young artists leave behind the schools where they had access to resources, mentorship, and time to create, often needing to fully realize how valuable that support was. This transition into the professional world can be daunting as they face the challenge of establishing themselves in a competitive industry.
With this in mind, we have created a series specifically dedicated to programs, grants, residencies and incubators, all aimed at supporting artists in research. This includes selected open calls, formative meetings, articles, and interviews published on Klimt02 to help artists better understand these opportunities and confidently use them as valuable resources to expand and communicate their creative practice.
This series will be continually updated to reflect the latest opportunities, ensuring you, the readers, have access to the most current information and resources published on Klimt02.”
8. Are you wondering if working with me as a coach would be a good fit?
Not sure if you’re ready or if you’re at the right place in your jewelry design journey? But you’re thinking that you want to do something powerful to bring more meaning to your art and start to actually make the pieces your soul is craving (maybe silently, maybe4 LOUDLY) to express?
Jewelry Design is not a simple, easy path. It is full of incredible challenges, and those are different for every designer. You will be confronted with struggle, obstacles will be placed at your feet, you’ll be bowled over by tedium, and frustrated by setbacks, befuddled when introducing your work publicly. Most things you will learn come from the art world or craft world, and don’t fit perfectly with what it means to design jewelry. The thing to remember is that those challenges are yours. They belong to you because you stepped into that world we call design. You have that desire to find and explore what all that means.
So often that first step in working deciding to work with a coach is the most difficult. But it is all about having the right guide through all the barriers and dilemmas and vagaries when designing jewelry.
I’m here to talk if you’re feeling stuck and curious about what it would be like to have the support of my mentorship program with you on the journey. Go ahead and schedule a free consultation to talk about your jewelry and problem solve some ways to jump start your creativity. This is a completely no-pressure opportunity to talk about your work and see if we can bring fresh energy, more meaning, and bitter impact to your art.
I’m here to offer guidance and if you think it’s a good fit to work together moving forward, that is great.
But really, this is a free opportunity, no pressure, absolutely no obligation. Let’s talk about where you’re at.
The easiest way to begin the process is to sign up here: COACHING WITH WARREN FELD You can review what coaching entails. You can submit a form on this web page. When I receive it, I’ll schedule our free initial consultation. Beginning the process does not obligate you to anything.
That’s it for now! There is a lot of creative expression all around the world right now. Hope you get to experience a lot of it, either first hand, or through social media online.
Promote your current projects, promotional copy, News & Views, videos, reels, tutorials, instructions, social media posts online in this newsletter and on our jewelry designers’ Patreon hub.
No deadlines! Opportunity available all the time. No fees.
But don’t wait to take advantage of this opportunity.
This copyrighted material is published here with permission of the author(s) as noted, or with Land of Odds or Warren Feld Jewelry. All rights reserved.
Repairs Stumping You? Let Me Take A Look
I take in a lot of jewelry repairs. People either bring them to me in Columbia, TN, or, I pick them up and deliver them back in Nashville. I am in Nashville at least once a week. It’s been convenient for most people to meet me at Green Hills Mall. But if not, I can come to your workplace or your home. This is perfectly fine for me. My turnaround time typically is 3–4 weeks.
I do most repairs, but I do not do any soldering. I also do not repair watches. These are the kinds of repairs I do:
o Beaded jewelry o Pearl knotting, hand knotting o Size/Length adjustment o Re-stringing o Wire work/weave/wrap o Micro macrame o Broken clasp replacfement o Earring repair o Replace lost rhinestones or gemstones o Stone setting o Stretchy bracelet o Metal working which does not involve soldering o Bead woven jewelry and purses o Beaded clothing o Custom jewelry design
WARREN FELD JEWELRY (www.warrenfeldjewelry.com) Custom Design, Workshops, Video Tutorials, Webinars, Coaching, Kits, Group Activities, Repairs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Join our community of jewelry designers on my Patreon hub Be part of a community of jewelry designers who recognize that we have a different way of thinking and doing than other types of crafters or artists. One free downloadable Mini-Lesson of your choice for all new members! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Access an ever-expanding library of articles, videos, podcast episodes, charts, and graphs available 24/7. Whether you’re interested in the latest trends in jewelry design and techniques or problem-solving at the bench, we have a wealth of information ready to help you learn, grow, and thrive.
Tons of info about jewelry and every kind of technique of jewelry making.
b. The 2024 Summer Design Challenge Winning Design
Matthew Piorkowski’s winning piece, “Interstellar”, features a stunning fantasy-cut octagon ametrine showcased in a custom yellow-gold pendant setting. Centered on the bail is a brilliant square-shaped diamond with sixteen accenting diamonds along the left side of the pendant mounting, creating visual interest along the path of the diamonds.
Rio Grande runs a seasonal challenge called For the Love of Jewelers Design Challenge. They haven’t announced winter or spring submissions rules yet. Check on their website: www.riogrande.com
In the ever-evolving world of artificial intelligence, the ability to create photorealistic images has become a groundbreaking achievement. ChatAI‘s Image Generator, powered by advanced Stable Diffusion models, offers users the tools to create images that blur the line between reality and AI-generated art. This article will guide you through the 7 steps to create photorealistic images with Stable Diffusion, focusing on the art of prompting. We’ll start by explaining what photorealistic images are, delve into the concept of Stable Diffusion, and then provide a step-by-step guide to crafting effective prompts. At the end, we will share 15 example prompts to inspire your creativity.
3. I encourage you to take advantage of the very low prices of delica beads on the Land of Odds website.
Compare Our Prices To What You Are Paying:
In this monthly newsletter, occasionally, like in this newsletter, you will find a discount coupon code that you can use on the Land of Odds website.
You can also become a paid subscribing member on our Jewelry Designers’ Patreon Hub, which entitles you to a 25% discount as long as you maintain your subscription.
4. 🎭 As a jewelry designer, it is important to identify your direction, voice, & identity.
Direction is understanding what work you want to make, and why you are making it (your emotional response to your work).
Voice is your unique take on your work’s descriptions and your unique way of portraying messages within your work.
Identity is about what you have experienced: what makes you you, including aspects like your family or where you grew up.
5. I’m always faulting craft show vendors for not having good enough signage for their booths. Recently, I came across this sign, and liked it.
6. What does jewelry sound like, I, for no particular reason, asked myself the other day, so I went to take a look.
To my surprise, there are thousands of jewelry sound effects. There are sounds the jewelry makes when someone wears it. There are sounds the jewelry makes when someone makes it.
7. Sometimes, as jewelry designers, we feel we don’t have the luxury of great access to resources — support, money, materials. There are opportunities available to you. Read the first of what will be a series of articles about this here.
NOTE: The word “artist” is often used in these opportunities, but in most cases, you should take this to be broadly defined, to include jewelry makers and fine craftspersons,
“Often burdened with a bad reputation, an artist’s career is not the easiest path.
It’s true, that unstable income is not particularly reassuring in a world increasingly governed by financial power. After graduation, many young artists leave behind the schools where they had access to resources, mentorship, and time to create, often needing to fully realize how valuable that support was. This transition into the professional world can be daunting as they face the challenge of establishing themselves in a competitive industry.
With this in mind, we have created a series specifically dedicated to programs, grants, residencies and incubators, all aimed at supporting artists in research. This includes selected open calls, formative meetings, articles, and interviews published on Klimt02 to help artists better understand these opportunities and confidently use them as valuable resources to expand and communicate their creative practice.
This series will be continually updated to reflect the latest opportunities, ensuring you, the readers, have access to the most current information and resources published on Klimt02.”
8. Are you wondering if working with me as a coach would be a good fit?
Not sure if you’re ready or if you’re at the right place in your jewelry design journey? But you’re thinking that you want to do something powerful to bring more meaning to your art and start to actually make the pieces your soul is craving (maybe silently, maybe4 LOUDLY) to express?
Jewelry Design is not a simple, easy path. It is full of incredible challenges, and those are different for every designer. You will be confronted with struggle, obstacles will be placed at your feet, you’ll be bowled over by tedium, and frustrated by setbacks, befuddled when introducing your work publicly. Most things you will learn come from the art world or craft world, and don’t fit perfectly with what it means to design jewelry. The thing to remember is that those challenges are yours. They belong to you because you stepped into that world we call design. You have that desire to find and explore what all that means.
So often that first step in working deciding to work with a coach is the most difficult. But it is all about having the right guide through all the barriers and dilemmas and vagaries when designing jewelry.
I’m here to talk if you’re feeling stuck and curious about what it would be like to have the support of my mentorship program with you on the journey. Go ahead and schedule a free consultation to talk about your jewelry and problem solve some ways to jump start your creativity. This is a completely no-pressure opportunity to talk about your work and see if we can bring fresh energy, more meaning, and bitter impact to your art.
I’m here to offer guidance and if you think it’s a good fit to work together moving forward, that is great.
But really, this is a free opportunity, no pressure, absolutely no obligation. Let’s talk about where you’re at.
The easiest way to begin the process is to sign up here: COACHING WITH WARREN FELD You can review what coaching entails. You can submit a form on this web page. When I receive it, I’ll schedule our free initial consultation. Beginning the process does not obligate you to anything.
That’s it for now! There is a lot of creative expression all around the world right now. Hope you get to experience a lot of it, either first hand, or through social media online.
Promote your current projects, promotional copy, News & Views, videos, reels, tutorials, instructions, social media posts online in this newsletter and on our jewelry designers’ Patreon hub.
No deadlines! Opportunity available all the time. No fees.
But don’t wait to take advantage of this opportunity.
This copyrighted material is published here with permission of the author(s) as noted, or with Land of Odds or Warren Feld Jewelry. All rights reserved.
Repairs Stumping You? Let Me Take A Look
I take in a lot of jewelry repairs. People either bring them to me in Columbia, TN, or, I pick them up and deliver them back in Nashville. I am in Nashville at least once a week. It’s been convenient for most people to meet me at Green Hills Mall. But if not, I can come to your workplace or your home. This is perfectly fine for me. My turnaround time typically is 3–4 weeks.
I do most repairs, but I do not do any soldering. I also do not repair watches. These are the kinds of repairs I do:
o Beaded jewelry o Pearl knotting, hand knotting o Size/Length adjustment o Re-stringing o Wire work/weave/wrap o Micro macrame o Broken clasp replacfement o Earring repair o Replace lost rhinestones or gemstones o Stone setting o Stretchy bracelet o Metal working which does not involve soldering o Bead woven jewelry and purses o Beaded clothing o Custom jewelry design
WARREN FELD JEWELRY (www.warrenfeldjewelry.com) Custom Design, Workshops, Video Tutorials, Webinars, Coaching, Kits, Group Activities, Repairs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Join our community of jewelry designers on my Patreon hub Be part of a community of jewelry designers who recognize that we have a different way of thinking and doing than other types of crafters or artists. One free downloadable Mini-Lesson of your choice for all new members! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have set up a space for our community of jewelry designers — Warren Feld Jewelry’s PATREON HUB — to learn, to interact, and to provide and/or get feedback on what they are working on. Please join here.
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I have found Instagram the best social media site for promoting your jewelry sales, and their algorithm has changed for the better for us
Before, Instagram would show new posts to 1% of your followers first and, depending on the response, share further.
This favored accounts with a large following, such as influencers or jewelry designers with especially large followings, since their 1% is a lot more than the 1% of a small account.
Now, every new post will be shown to a random group of users, usually ones with a shared interest in the kind of posts you create. Think: followers of your followers who don’t yet follow you will get prioritized. Aggregators accounts, like influencers, will get diminished a bit. In a similar vein, co-occurring is this situation: If you post an image on your own feed as well as with an influencer’s feed, that image will only appear on your own feed, not on the influencer’s. Instagram’s goal is to reward originality and the creator.
This is great news for smaller accounts: it widens the funnel of potential engagement with each post.
Reels are still important, but they’re no longer the only ones.
Focus on posting a mix of Reels, still images, and carousels. Should NOT be all reels all the time. The important factor is that you are giving your followers value. Make them feel like you are giving them something.
Give people something to read (in the post or the caption)
Provide an insider point of view to your jewelry-making process
Choose an eye-catching cover image for all posts (hook them)
Better lighting often solves many issues of gaining and keeping attention. Also bring people in close to the elements in the image. Focus on a a section of the piece. Show them your hands at work. Don’t pull back for that wide shot of everything necessarily.
Bring people in close, show them what you’re doing.
Give viewers a reason to watch your entire Reel.
NO’s: Instead of simply showing your work, using captions such as:
❌ “Here’s my latest piece of jewelry…”
❌ “I have an event coming…”
❌ “My website is now live…”
YES’s: Capture their attention first, and then make your announcement:
✅ “Here’s how I turned this run-of-the-mill necklace into an exciting one..” finishing with “This piece is now available”
✅ “You won’t believe how this piece turned out…” followed by “Come see this piece live at my next show.”
WARNINGs: Less time-lapse of showing each step after it has been completed, and more showing something actionable, like implementing each step.
Come up with something that will make people hang out until the interesting part. Come up with things to make people stick around. Bring them close-in to the action. Be sure they see you sometime in the images. Be sure, at the end or towards the end, they see the outcome, such as the finished piece or section of the piece, or completed step.
End with a CALL TO ACTION. Such as, direct them to your website where they can purchase the finished piece, or to your website where they can sign up for your newletters.
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SO YOU WANT TO BE A JEWELRY DESIGNER Merging Your Voice With Form
So You Want To Be A Jewelry Designer reinterprets how to apply techniques and modify art theories from the Jewelry Designer’s perspective. To go beyond craft, the jewelry designer needs to become literate in this discipline called Jewelry Design. Literacy means understanding how to answer the question: Why do some pieces of jewelry draw your attention, and others do not? How to develop the authentic, creative self, someone who is fluent, flexible and original. How to gain the necessary design skills and be able to apply them, whether the situation is familiar or not.
From my book: SO YOU WANT TO BE A JEWELRY DESIGNER Merging Your Voice With Form,Ebook , Kindle or Print formats
Abstract:
For some jewelry designs, the incorporation of mixed media or mixed techniques can have a synergistic effect — increasing the appeal and/or functionality of the piece better than any one media or technique alone. It can feel more playful and experimental and fun to mix media or techniques. But there may be adverse effects, as well. Each media or technique will have its own structural and support requirements — that is, its own special characteristics and its own philosophy of technique. Each will react differently to various physical forces impacting the piece when worn. So it becomes more difficult for the designer to successfully coordinate and integrate more than one media or technique.
MIXED MEDIA / MIXED TECHNIQUES
It’s my belief that you cannot combine two different media or two different techniques to make a piece of jewelry without letting one of them predominate over the other.
Whether combining fiber with beads or metal with beads or paint and sculpture with beads, or braiding with beads or metalwork with glasswork or glass beads with gemstone beads, it is difficult to have a successful, satisfying outcome, without letting one of the media or technique be dominant over the other.
Each media and technique has its own set of structural rules and requirements — that is, its own special characteristics and its own philosophy of technique. Each interacts with light and shadow very differently; that is, the materials and techniques associated with a particular media reflect, absorb and refract light differently. Each has different problems with and responses to physical mechanical forces impacting the piece internally and externally with different stresses and strains. Each requires different strategies for managing tradeoffs between aesthetics and functionality. Each triggers differing responses by wearers and viewers as to sensory, sensual and/or symbolic impressions.
These kinds of things make the viewer’s experience and interaction with the media or technique and its resulting products different, from media to media and technique to technique.
So, you can have a “knitting” project that incorporates some beads, or a “beading” project that uses a knitting stitch and/or some yarn. In the former, knitting would predominate, with more focus on the fibers; in the latter, beading would predominate, with more focus on the beads. You can have a wire project which incorporates some beads, or a beading project which incorporates some wire elements.
But it is rare that you can look at a project, and say it concurrently meets the criteria for finish and success of both media — so, both a successful, satisfying knitting AND beading project, and both a successful wire AND beading project. It is difficult to preserve the integrity of either media if you force them to be co-equals.
It is difficult to mix materials within the same project. For example, it is difficult to mix glass and acrylic beads, or glass and gemstone beads…. Unless, you let one material become predominant over the other, or one technique become predominant over the other.
But all of this is very challenging, almost off-putting, to the jewelry designer who wants to combine media techniques and materials.
Types of Mixed Media / Mixed Technique Jewelry Projects
There are four distinct types of mixed media / mixed techniques projects.
Collage: Different materials or techniques are combined in an additive fashion. Often we create a foundation or base out of one material or technique, and embellish on top of it with another material or technique. It is very 2-dimensional.
Assemblage: This is a variant of the collage, where different materials or techniques are used to enhance the dimensionality or movement within a piece. The result is very 3-dimensional, sculptural and is very multiplicative.
Found Object: Various objects which are found and used by jewelry designers within their pieces because of their perceived artistic value.
Altered: An existing piece of jewelry will be reused and altered or modified physically, resulting in a different piece with a different sensibility. The original piece might be added to, cut up and re-arranged, materials changed, different techniques applied to reconstruct the piece.
How Can Two Things Come Together For Artistic Success?
For some jewelry designs, the incorporation of mixed media or mixed techniques can have a synergistic effect — increasing the appeal and/or functionality of the piece better than any one media or technique alone.
It can feel more playful and experimental and fun to mix media or techniques.
But there may be adverse effects, as well. Each media or technique will have its own structural and support requirements. Each will react differently to various physical forces impacting the piece when worn. So it becomes more difficult for the designer to successfully coordinate and integrate more than one media or technique.
Ask yourself,
How will you match tasks and/or materials?
How will you switch between them?
How will you adapt should one restrict or impede the flow of action?
How will you adapt should one alter or otherwise impede a shape or shapes within your piece?
What if it is easier to finish off the piece with one but not the other?
Typically, what works best overall is if you allow one media or technique to predominate. There its conformance to various art and design requirements will shine through without any sense of competition, incompleteness or discordance.
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I hope you found this article useful. Please consider sharing.
CONQUERING THE CREATIVE MARKETPLACE: Between the Fickleness of Business and the Pursuit of Design
How dreams are made between the fickleness of business and the pursuit of jewelry design
This guidebook is a must-have for anyone serious about making money selling jewelry. I focus on straightforward, workable strategies for integrating business practices with the creative design process. These strategies make balancing your creative self with your productive self easier and more fluid.
Based both on the creation and development of my own jewelry design business, as well as teaching countless students over the past 35+ years about business and craft, I address what should be some of your key concerns and uncertainties. I help you plan your road map.
Whether you are a hobbyist or a self-supporting business, success as a jewelry designer involves many things to think about, know and do. I share with you the kinds of things it takes to start your own jewelry business, run it, anticipate risks and rewards, and lead it to a level of success you feel is right for you, including
· Marketing, Promoting, Branding: competitor analysis, developing message, establishing emotional connections to your products, social media marketing
· Selling: linking product to buyer among many venues, such as store, department store, online, trunk show, home show, trade show, sales reps and showrooms, catalogs, TV shopping, galleries, advertising, cold calling, making the pitch
· Resiliency: building business, professional and psychological resiliency
· Professional Responsibilities: preparing artist statement, portfolio, look book, resume, biographical sketch, profile, FAQ, self-care
SO YOU WANT TO BE A JEWELRY DESIGNER Merging Your Voice With Form
So You Want To Be A Jewelry Designer reinterprets how to apply techniques and modify art theories from the Jewelry Designer’s perspective. To go beyond craft, the jewelry designer needs to become literate in this discipline called Jewelry Design. Literacy means understanding how to answer the question: Why do some pieces of jewelry draw your attention, and others do not? How to develop the authentic, creative self, someone who is fluent, flexible and original. How to gain the necessary design skills and be able to apply them, whether the situation is familiar or not.
The Jewelry Journey Podcast “Building Jewelry That Works: Why Jewelry Design Is Like Architecture” Podcast, Part 1 Podcast, Part 2
PEARL KNOTTING…Warren’s Way Easy. Simple. No tools. Anyone Can Do!
I developed a nontraditional technique which does not use tools because I found tools get in the way of tying good and well-positioned knots. I decided to bring two cords through the bead to minimize any negative effects resulting from the pearl rotating around the cord. I only have you glue one knot in the piece. I use a simple overhand knot which is easily centered. I developed a rule for choosing the thickness of your bead cord. I lay out different steps for starting and ending a piece, based on how you want to attach the piece to your clasp assembly.
SO YOU WANT TO DO CRAFT SHOWS: 16 Lessons I Learned Doing Craft Shows
In this book, I discuss 16 lessons I learned, Including How To (1) Find, Evaluate and Select Craft Shows Right for You, (2) Determine a Set of Realistic Goals, (3) Compute a Simple Break-Even Analysis, (4) Develop Your Applications and Apply in the Smartest Ways, (5) Understand How Much Inventory to Bring, (6) Set Up and Present Both Yourself and Your Wares, (7) Best Promote and Operate Your Craft Show Business before, during and after the show.
Learning Bead Stringing Is More Than Putting Beads On A String And Tying On A Clasp
There is an art and skill to stringing beads. First, of course, is the selection of beads for a design, and the selection of the appropriate stringing material. Then is the selection of a clasp or closure, appropriate to the design and use of the piece.
You want your pieces to be appealing. You want them to wear well. You want someone to wear them or buy them. This means understanding the basic techniques, not only in terms of craft and art, but also with considerations about architecture, mechanics, and some sociology, anthropology and psychology.
In this book, I go into depth about: (1) Choosing stringing materials, and the pros and cons of each type, (2) Choosing clasps, and the pros and cons of different clasps, (3) All about the different jewelry findings and how you use them, (4) Architectural considerations and how to build these into your pieces, (5) How better designers use cable wires and crimp, as well as, use needle and thread to string beads, (6) How best to make stretchy bracelets, (7) How to make adjustable slip knots, coiled wire loops, and silk wraps, (8) How to finish off the ends of thicker cords or ropes, so that you can attach a clasp, (9) How to construct such projects as eyeglass leashes, mask chains, lariats, multi-strand pieces, twist multi-strand pieces, and memory wire bracelets, (10) How different teaching paradigms — craft vs. art vs. design — might influence the types of choices you make.
452 pp, many images, illustrations, diagrams, Ebook, Kindle or Print
Design and Assemble Your Own Jewelry, The Complete Insider’s Guide
New book by Warren Feld
Learning Bead Stringing Is More Than Putting Beads On A String, And Tying On A Clasp
There is an art and skill to stringing beads. First, of course, is the selection of beads for a design, and the selection of the appropriate stringing material. Then is the selection of a clasp or closure, appropriate to the design and use of the piece.
You want your pieces to be appealing. You want them to wear well. You want someone to wear them or buy them. This means understanding the basic techniques, not only in terms of craft and art, but also with considerations about architecture, mechanics, and some sociology, anthropology and psychology.
In this book, I go into depth about:
1. Choosing stringing materials, and the pros and cons of each type
2. Choosing clasps, and the pros and cons of different clasps
3. All about the different jewelry findings and how you use them
4. Architectural considerations and how to build these into your pieces
5. How better designers use cable wires and crimp, as well as, use needle and thread to string beads
6. How best to make stretchy bracelets
7. How to make adjustable slip knots, coiled wire loops, and silk wraps
8. How to finish off the ends of thicker cords or ropes, so that you can attach a clasp
9. How to construct such projects as eyeglass leashes, mask chains, lariats, multi-strand pieces, twist multi-strand pieces, and memory wire bracelets
10. How different teaching paradigms — craft vs. art vs. design — might influence the types of choices you make
For Warren Feld, Jewelry Designer, (www.warrenfeldjewelry.com), beading and jewelry making have been wonderful adventures over 36+ years. These adventures have taken Warren from the basics of bead stringing and bead weaving, to pearl knotting, micro-macrame, wire working, wire weaving and silversmithing, and onward to more complex jewelry designs which build on the strengths of a full range of technical skills and experiences. http://www.warrenfeldjewelry.com
CONQUERING THE CREATIVE MARKETPLACE: Between the Fickleness of Business and the Pursuit of Design
How dreams are made between the fickleness of business and the pursuit of jewelry design
This guidebook is a must-have for anyone serious about making money selling jewelry. I focus on straightforward, workable strategies for integrating business practices with the creative design process. These strategies make balancing your creative self with your productive self easier and more fluid.
Based both on the creation and development of my own jewelry design business, as well as teaching countless students over the past 35+ years about business and craft, I address what should be some of your key concerns and uncertainties. I help you plan your road map.
Whether you are a hobbyist or a self-supporting business, success as a jewelry designer involves many things to think about, know and do. I share with you the kinds of things it takes to start your own jewelry business, run it, anticipate risks and rewards, and lead it to a level of success you feel is right for you, including
· Marketing, Promoting, Branding: competitor analysis, developing message, establishing emotional connections to your products, social media marketing
· Selling: linking product to buyer among many venues, such as store, department store, online, trunk show, home show, trade show, sales reps and showrooms, catalogs, TV shopping, galleries, advertising, cold calling, making the pitch
· Resiliency: building business, professional and psychological resiliency
· Professional Responsibilities: preparing artist statement, portfolio, look book, resume, biographical sketch, profile, FAQ, self-care
SO YOU WANT TO BE A JEWELRY DESIGNER Merging Your Voice With Form
So You Want To Be A Jewelry Designer reinterprets how to apply techniques and modify art theories from the Jewelry Designer’s perspective. To go beyond craft, the jewelry designer needs to become literate in this discipline called Jewelry Design. Literacy means understanding how to answer the question: Why do some pieces of jewelry draw your attention, and others do not? How to develop the authentic, creative self, someone who is fluent, flexible and original. How to gain the necessary design skills and be able to apply them, whether the situation is familiar or not.
The Jewelry Journey Podcast “Building Jewelry That Works: Why Jewelry Design Is Like Architecture” Podcast, Part 1 Podcast, Part 2
PEARL KNOTTING…Warren’s Way Easy. Simple. No tools. Anyone Can Do!
I developed a nontraditional technique which does not use tools because I found tools get in the way of tying good and well-positioned knots. I decided to bring two cords through the bead to minimize any negative effects resulting from the pearl rotating around the cord. I only have you glue one knot in the piece. I use a simple overhand knot which is easily centered. I developed a rule for choosing the thickness of your bead cord. I lay out different steps for starting and ending a piece, based on how you want to attach the piece to your clasp assembly.
SO YOU WANT TO DO CRAFT SHOWS:16 Lessons I Learned Doing Craft Shows
In this book, I discuss 16 lessons I learned, Including How To (1) Find, Evaluate and Select Craft Shows Right for You, (2) Determine a Set of Realistic Goals, (3) Compute a Simple Break-Even Analysis, (4) Develop Your Applications and Apply in the Smartest Ways, (5) Understand How Much Inventory to Bring, (6) Set Up and Present Both Yourself and Your Wares, (7) Best Promote and Operate Your Craft Show Business before, during and after the show.
In the beginning, and you know how it goes, created the heavens and the earth. Create. In the first section of Genesis, the word create gets used over and over and over again, as if, not only to emphasize its importance, but to marvel at the concept. A beautiful universe is created. Humankind is created. Animals are created. There’s a flood and a re-creation. Create, create, create.
There are two Hebrew words used in Genesis which hold the idea of create within them: bara, meaning to create, and asah, meaning to make or do. They are used interchangeably. Sometimes reserved to represent God and supernatural powers. Other times to represent the impacts of people creating things and what happens over time. The meaning of one word is not more important than the meaning of the other.
And I think those folks who compiled the various stories into the Bible tried to interrelate the idea of a God with the power to create with the idea of humans having the power to create. Create, create, create. As if they kept writing and writing and writing in an attempt to clarify and come to grips with for themselves what the awesome power of creation was inside themselves, and how to use that power. There is a freedom to be your authentic self, and that was celebrated.
And this is what I spoke about in the first sermon I gave as the unofficial, untrained, never-seeking-to-be, rabbi in Oxford, Mississippi.
The Jewish congregation in Oxford varied between 20 and 40 individuals over the 5 years I was there. Some were Jewish and some only interested in Judaism. Did not matter. Vinnie and Ralph had a beautiful home there, and converted part of their home to a sanctuary. Temples in Memphis and Jackson, Mississippi lent the temple a torah and several other religious items, and a collection of prayer books. The person who was serving as rabbi was a professor who was about to move away the year I came to Oxford. I spoke Hebrew and that was my only qualification. I become the rabbi. I officiated over a wedding, a bar and bat mitzvah, and services once a month.
CREATIVITY ISN’T FOUND, IT’S DEVELOPED
Kierkegaard — and I apologize for getting a little show-off-y with my reference — once described Creativity as “a passionate sense of the potential.” And I love this definition. Passion is very important. It is motivating. Creativity obviously important because it’s a way of thinking through things.
Passion and creativity can be summed up as some kind of intuitive sense made operational by bringing all your capabilities and wonderings and technical know-how to the fore. All your mechanical, imaginative and knowledge and skills grow over time, as do your abilities for creative thinking and applications. Creativity isn’t inherently natural. It is something that is developed over time as you get more and more experience designing jewelry.
You sit down, and you ask, what should I create? For most people, especially those getting started, they look for patterns and instructions in bead magazines or how-to books or websites online. They let someone else make all the creative choices for them. The singular creative choice here is picking what you want to make. And, when you’re starting, this is OK.
When you feel more comfortable with the materials and the techniques, you can begin to make additional choices. You can choose your own colors. You can make simple adaptations, such as changing out the bead, or changing the dimensions, or changing out a row, or adding a different clasp.
Eventually, however, you will want to confront the Creativity issue head on. You will want to decide that pursuing your innermost jewelry designer, no matter what pathway this takes you along, is the next thing, and right thing, to do. That means you want your jewelry and your beadwork to reflect your artistic hand. You want to develop a personal style. You want to come up with your own projects.
But applying yourself creatively is also work. It can be fun at times, but scary at others. There is an element of risk. You might not like what you end up doing. Your friends might not like it. Nor your family. Nor your client. You might not finish it. Or you might do it wrong. It always will seem easier to go with someone else’s project, already proven to be liked and tested — because it’s been published, and passed around, and done over and over again by many different people. Sometimes it seems insurmountable, after finishing one project, to decide what to do next. Exercising your creative abilities can sometimes be a bear.
But it’s important to keep pushing on. Challenging yourself. Developing yourself. Turning yourself into a bead artist or jewelry designer. And pursuing opportunities to exercise your creative talents even more, as you enter the world of design.
That describes me. I look for inspirations in the designs of other jewelry makers, in nature, in art, in tapestries, in textures and patterns which present themselves, usually in unexpected places.
Then I go through the mental gymnastics about how to translate these inspirations into a workable jewelry design. I write out a plan of action, and begin. As I incorporate changes, or reject first ideas, I document these. There is always a notepad and pen next to me as I create. When I come to an intellectual or technical fork in the road, I document this as well, and proceed, first down one leg, then back and down the other. I reflect on what works or works better, and document my thoughts.
I keep updating and improving on my original plan of action. Towards the completion of my project, I seek out the opinion of others. Is it satisfying to look at? To wear? To reconstruct following my notes? Can you see my original inspiration within my piece? To what extent does the piece reflect my style?
I Found Myself In Mississippi
I was a New Jersey boy, educated there and in Boston. My first move to the South was to North Carolina — Chapel Hill and Durham area — for my doctoral work in Public Health. Never thought I’d end up in Mississippi. Glad I did.
As I was finishing up my doctoral work in Public Health Administration, I applied for several jobs. My dream job was to work for a prominent consulting firm in Philadelphia. These people were always at the table with many government agencies to assist them developing requests for proposals. And, as a result, were at the front of the line in applying for and receiving grant funds. Most importantly, they specialized in both physical as well as social planning. I saw this as a chance to get closer to the urban development and physical planning activities I was more interested in than health care.
I got the job. Yeah! But 6 weeks later, they rescinded the offer. Reagan had just gotten elected as President. He immediately cut out many of the social and physical planning programs that this firm specialized in (and for which I had steered my training and education). This consulting firm felt it was not a good time to expand, and in fact, one year later, they closed their doors.
I thought it safest to apply for a teaching job at a university somewhere. I would wait things out. Surely, after Reagan, the next President would bring these programs back. Of course, they never came back. I decided if I was going to teach, which was not something I wanted to do at the time, I would make it into an adventure. I would locate myself in a place that I would not normally reside in. I concentrated on applying to the University of Iowa and to the University of Mississippi. Got offers from both, and I liked both, but I liked Mississippi a little better.
I lived in Mississippi for five years. I loved it!
What Is Creativity?
If you are going to become someone who makes things, then it is of the essence that you be very clear about what the concept of creativity is all about — about for yourself, about for your various audiences, about for anyone else who will critically interact with the objects you make.
We create. Invent. Discover. Imagine. Suppose. Predict. Delve into unknown or unpredictable situations and figure out fix-it strategies for resolution and to move forward. All of these are examples of creativity. We synthesize. Generate new or novel ideas. Find new arrangements of things. Seek out challenging tasks. Broaden our knowledge. Surround ourselves with interesting objects and interesting people. Again, these are examples of creativity.
Yet, creativity scares people. They are afraid they don’t have it. Or not enough of it. Or not as much as those other people, whom they think are creative, have. They don’t know how to bring it to the fore, or apply it.
But creativity shouldn’t scare you. Everyone has some creative abilities within themselves. For most people, they need to develop it. Cultivate it. Nourish it. They need to learn various tools and skills and understandings for developing it, applying it and managing it. Creativity is a process. We think, we try, we explore, we fall down and pick ourselves up again. Creativity involves work and commitment. It requires a lot of self-awareness — what we call metacognition — extremely important for all designers. It takes some knowledge, skill and understanding. It can overwhelm at times. It can be blocked at other times.
But it is nothing to be scared about. Creativity is something we want to embrace because it can bring so much self-fulfillment, as well as bring joy and fulfillment to others. Creativity is not some divine gift. It is actually the skilled application of knowledge in new and exciting ways to create something which is valued. Creativity can be acquired and honed at any age or any experience level.
For the jewelry designer, it’s all about how to think creatively. Thinking creatively involves the integration and leveraging of three different kinds of ideas — insight and inspiration, establishing value, and implementing something.
Insight. You see something out of nothing. You relate mass to space and space to mass. You begin with a negative space. Within this space, you add points, lines, planes and shapes. Forms and themes may emerge. As you add and arrange more stuff, the mass takes on meaning and content.
Value. You make connections which have meaning, purpose and value. All of a sudden there is desire. Desire hits you in the face. You express. Your expressions hit your various audiences in the face.
Implementation. You make something. You refine it. You change it. You introduce it publicly.
Every Little Mississippi Town Celebrates Creativity
Every little town and every city and every person and every business in Mississippi celebrated creativity. Fully engaged in the act of creating. In fact, they worshipped it. I worship it. I felt very connected. Liberated.
Oxford celebrates Faulkner. You go into the supermarket, and there is a Faulkner corner. Dress shop — Faulkner corner. Souvenir shop — Faulkner corner. Talk to any local native, and they can quote Faulkner, just like someone might quote the Bible. And as you travel around the state, you notice that every town has their artist-writer-musician celebrity. And they celebrate that person. They know that person’s biography intimately. Their works as if they had created them themselves. Cleveland has McCarty potters. Jackson has Eudora Welty. Indianola has B.B. King, who gave a free concert at the local high school every year, then took everyone to a local speakeasy for an after hours party. A hoot.
Edwards, Mississippi, between Jackson and Natchez, had the Mississippi Academy of Ancient Music. Tougaloo College decades ago took in a Polish communist academic refugee when no other institution would. In honor of this music professor, several people associated with the college bought an old, run down plantation home. They held chamber music concerts almost daily. In exchange for some southern hospitality, a room to sleep in and some food, musicians donated some strength and resolve to renovate and refurbish various parts of the plantation home. The Academy become a destination point for all the great musicians across America. Usually a chamber music performance every day, most of the day and some of the night. Perhaps taking a break or two to visit the black busy bee (speakeasy) down the block to imbibe, enjoy a different form of music, snooze a little, and dance.
I traveled up and down the Natchez Trace between Tupelo in the north and Natchez in the southeast. Each connected village and town showcased some craft or art or writer. Even a religious Mennonite colony showed that they too appreciate the human act of creation in honeys and cakes. In a sacred way. Not just for commercialization.
Types of Creativity
The idea of creativity gets all entangled with the idea of originality. Artists and designers can be so fickle about the idea of originality. Fickle to the point of not creating anything, for fear it would be seen as a copy of someone else’s work, perhaps someone who inspired them. Or for fear that someone would steal their ideas and designs. But originality is not a fixed idea when it comes to creativity. It is a flexible idea, contingent on the experience level of the designer.
The idea of originality can be off-putting. It doesn’t have to be. The jewelry, so creatively designed, does not have to be a totally and completely new and original design. The included design elements and arrangements do not have to be solely unique and never been done before.
Originality can be seen in making something stimulating, interesting or unusual. It can represent an incremental change which makes something better or more personal or a fresh perspective. It can be something that is a clever or unexpected rearrangement, or a great idea, insight, meaningful interpretation or emotion which shines through. It can include the design of new patterns and textures. It can accomplish connections among seemingly unrelated phenomena, and generate solutions. It can be a variation on a technique or how material gets used. It can be something that enhances the functionality or value of the piece.
Creativity in jewelry design marries that which is original to that which is functional, valued, useful, worthwhile, desired. These things are co-dependent — originality with value — if any creative project is to be seen as successful. For jewelry designers, creativity is not the sketch or computer aided drawing. It is not the inspiration. It is not the piece which never sees the light of day, because then it would represent a mere object, not jewelry.
Creativity requires implementation. And for jewelry designers, implementation is a very public enterprise.
I First Began To Paint
It was in Mississippi where I first began to paint.
I felt safe there. I had been told so many times that I had no artistic talent, or that I should concentrate on things other than art because I would not be able to make a living at it. Part of my brain told me I could not. Another part told me I could. I finally felt safe enough — I was in my early 20s — to try.
I felt the first painting I did was successful. The inspiration was a deteriorating Black Power poster stapled to a telephone pole. I painted what I saw, and embellished it a little to bring in a little more drama. I was pleased with it.
Now I wanted to see how realistically I could draw. Not something I’m great at. If I go very, very slowly, and concentrate deeply, I can draw realistically. But I’m impatient. It’s difficult for me. But I started a second piece. I created a collage of newspaper articles related to pharmacy. Then I drew, in different locations on the canvas, a pharmacist, the plant foxglove, a blood pressure cuff around a shoulder, and a glass mortar and pestle. Using oils, I painted these in. Unless you look closely, these become indistinguishable from the newsprint. Another success.
Several more paintings later, I felt positive that I had talent. But I began to get a little bored with painting. I had gotten into that doing something blue to hang above a blue couch mode. I wanted to have an impact on people. I wanted both to communicate my perspective on life, and see others responding to this. I wanted to respond to others responding to me. To get a deeper understanding of myself. To convey this deeper understanding in my art.
Painting wasn’t accomplishing that.
It didn’t move. It avoided changes in light, shadow, brightness, dimness, saturation, shading that I love so much with jewelry as it is worn.
I wasn’t passionate about painting.
What Shapes Your Creative Process?
Creative people, at least from my perspective, tend to possess a high level of energy, intuitiveness, and discipline. They are also comfortable spending a great deal of time quietly thinking and reflecting. They understand what it means to cultivate emotions, both within themselves, as well as relative to the various audiences they interact with. They are able to stay engaged with their piece for as long as it takes to bring it to completion. They fall in love with their work and their work process.
Creativity is not something that you can use up. To the contrary, the more you use your creativity, the more you have it. It is developmental, and for the better jewelry designer, development is a continual, life-long process of learning, playing, experimenting and doing.
To be creative, one must have the ability to identify new problems, rather than depending on others to define them. The designer must be good at transferring knowledge gained in one context to another in order to solve a problem or overcome something that is unknown. I call this developing a Designer Tool Box of fix-it strategies which the designer takes everywhere.
The designer is very goal-oriented and determined in his or her pursuit. But, at the same time, the jewelry designer also understands and expects that the design process is very incremental with a lot of non-linear, back-and-forth thinking and application. There is an underlying confidence and belief, however, that eventually all of this effort will lead to success.
I found I had all the necessary ingredients to become a very creative person. But I lacked context. Lacked direction. Lacked purpose. Lacked support. I was trying on lots of different contexts, but no Ta Dah’s! It was not until my late 30s, when I met my future partner Jayden, that I discovered jewelry. And it was a few years later after that, that designing and making jewelry tapped into my creative self in a way in which I found my passion. My impact. My context. My creativity. My Rogue Elephant.
How Do We Create?
It’s not what we create, but how we create!
The creative process, at its core, can be reduced to managing the interplay of two types of thinking — Convergence and Divergence. Both are necessary for thinking creatively.
Divergent thinking is defined as the ability to generate or expand upon options and alternatives, no matter the goal, situation or context.
Convergent thinking is the opposite. This is defined as the ability to narrow down all these options and alternatives.
Creativity then is questioning things. Setting things up apart from social norms, and determining whether social norms should apply. Setting things up in line with personal desires, preferences and assumptions, and determining if any of these should still make sense, given the context. Dealing and coping and understanding one’s creativity, as merely questioning and relating, questioning and categorizing, questioning and rejecting, becomes simple. Accessible. Do-able. Not so scary.
The fluent jewelry designer is able to comfortably weave back and forth between divergence and convergence, and know when the final choices are parsimonious, finished, and will be judged as resonant and successful.
Brainstorming is a great example of how creative thinking is used. We ask ourselves What If…? How about…? Could we try this or that idea…? The primary exercise here is to think of all the possibilities, then whittle these down to a small set of solutions.
Creative thinking, first, involves cultivating divergent thinking skills and exposing ourselves to the new, the different, the unknown, the unexpected. It is, in part, a learning process. Then, next, through our set of convergent thinking skills, we criticize, and meld, and synthesize, and connect ideas, and blend, and analyze, and test practicality, as we steer our thinking towards a singular, realistic, do-able solution in design.
Partly, what we always need to remember, is that this process of creative thinking in jewelry design also assists us finding that potential audience or audiences — weaver, buyer, exhibitor, collector, student, colleague — for our creative work. Jewelry is one of those special art forms which require going beyond a set of ideas, to recognizing how these ideas will be used. Jewelry is art only when it is worn. Otherwise, it is a sculptural object.
What Should I Create?
The process of jewelry making begins with the question, What Should I Create?
You want to create something which results in an emotional engagement. That means, when you or someone else interacts with your piece, they should feel some kind of connection. That connection will have some value for them. They might see something as useful. It may have meaning. Or it may speak to a personal desire. It may increase a sense of self-esteem. It may persuade someone to buy it. It may feel especially powerful or beautiful or entertaining. They may want to share it with someone else.
You want to create something that you care about. It should not be about following trends. It should be about reflecting your inner artist and designer — what you like, how you see the world, what you want to do. Love what you are making. Otherwise, you run the risk of burning out.
It is easier to create work with someone specific in mind. This is called backwards design. You anticipate how someone else would like what you do, want to wear it, buy it, and then let this influence you in your selection about materials, techniques and composition. This might be a specific person, or a type of person, such as a potential class of buyers.
Keep things simple and parsimonious. Edit your ideas. You do not want to over-do or under-do your pieces. You do not have to include everything in one piece. You can do several pieces. Showing restraint allows for better communication with your audiences. Each piece you make should not look like you are frantically trying to prove yourself. They should look like you have given a lot of thought about how others should emotionally engage with your piece.
There is always a lot of pressure to brand yourself. That means sticking with certain themes, designs or materials. But this can be a little stifling, if you want to develop your creativity. Take the time to explore new avenues of work.
You want to give yourself some time to find inspirations. A walk in nature. A visit to a museum. Involvement with a social cause. Participation in a ritual or ceremony. Studying color samples at a paint store. A dream. A sense of spirituality or other feeling. A translation of something verbal into something visual. Inspirations are all around you.
Permit Me Some Final Words
I continually am amazed that my passion honed in on the creation of jewelry. I don’t wear jewelry. I find it uncomfortable. I find it becomes a curtain and shield to who I am as a person. It’s an embellishment and I don’t want to be embellished. Yes, I am attracted to gemstones and their powerful emergent energies. But I prefer to touch them and hold them in my hand, much moreso than wearing them around my wrist or neck.
But that creative process of designing and making jewelry makes me feel so connected to other people. Fulfilling desires. Sometimes to the point of healing. This is so inherently satisfying to me. Driving me. Sustaining me for those pieces that take a very, very long time to conceptualize and make into a reality.
I also especially like taking something and making it more contemporary. More relevant to today’s expectations about what is more pleasing, more appealing, more satisfying. This means adding in more dimensionality, more movement, more tension between positive and negatives spaces, more incremental violations of color and other art theories. This means having intimate understandings of both materials and techniques, and how to leverage their strengths and minimize their weaknesses.
I never learned to be creative. I become creative slowly, developmentally, over-coming criticism and complaint. It took a lot of effort to recognize that I had various choices within which to express my creative impulses. It was almost happenstance that jewelry making became my passion. I’m grateful that it did.
CONQUERING THE CREATIVE MARKETPLACE: Between the Fickleness of Business and the Pursuit of Design
How dreams are made between the fickleness of business and the pursuit of jewelry design
This guidebook is a must-have for anyone serious about making money selling jewelry. I focus on straightforward, workable strategies for integrating business practices with the creative design process. These strategies make balancing your creative self with your productive self easier and more fluid.
Based both on the creation and development of my own jewelry design business, as well as teaching countless students over the past 35+ years about business and craft, I address what should be some of your key concerns and uncertainties. I help you plan your road map.
Whether you are a hobbyist or a self-supporting business, success as a jewelry designer involves many things to think about, know and do. I share with you the kinds of things it takes to start your own jewelry business, run it, anticipate risks and rewards, and lead it to a level of success you feel is right for you, including
· Marketing, Promoting, Branding: competitor analysis, developing message, establishing emotional connections to your products, social media marketing
· Selling: linking product to buyer among many venues, such as store, department store, online, trunk show, home show, trade show, sales reps and showrooms, catalogs, TV shopping, galleries, advertising, cold calling, making the pitch
· Resiliency: building business, professional and psychological resiliency
· Professional Responsibilities: preparing artist statement, portfolio, look book, resume, biographical sketch, profile, FAQ, self-care
SO YOU WANT TO BE A JEWELRY DESIGNER Merging Your Voice With Form
So You Want To Be A Jewelry Designer reinterprets how to apply techniques and modify art theories from the Jewelry Designer’s perspective. To go beyond craft, the jewelry designer needs to become literate in this discipline called Jewelry Design. Literacy means understanding how to answer the question: Why do some pieces of jewelry draw your attention, and others do not? How to develop the authentic, creative self, someone who is fluent, flexible and original. How to gain the necessary design skills and be able to apply them, whether the situation is familiar or not.
The Jewelry Journey Podcast “Building Jewelry That Works: Why Jewelry Design Is Like Architecture” Podcast, Part 1 Podcast, Part 2
PEARL KNOTTING…Warren’s Way Easy. Simple. No tools. Anyone Can Do!
I developed a nontraditional technique which does not use tools because I found tools get in the way of tying good and well-positioned knots. I decided to bring two cords through the bead to minimize any negative effects resulting from the pearl rotating around the cord. I only have you glue one knot in the piece. I use a simple overhand knot which is easily centered. I developed a rule for choosing the thickness of your bead cord. I lay out different steps for starting and ending a piece, based on how you want to attach the piece to your clasp assembly.
SO YOU WANT TO DO CRAFT SHOWS:16 Lessons I Learned Doing Craft Shows
In this book, I discuss 16 lessons I learned, Including How To (1) Find, Evaluate and Select Craft Shows Right for You, (2) Determine a Set of Realistic Goals, (3) Compute a Simple Break-Even Analysis, (4) Develop Your Applications and Apply in the Smartest Ways, (5) Understand How Much Inventory to Bring, (6) Set Up and Present Both Yourself and Your Wares, (7) Best Promote and Operate Your Craft Show Business before, during and after the show.
Sometimes I get so sick and tired of this question. I get perplexed. What does it really mean? What are people really telling me when they say I should follow my passion?
What job or career or avocation should I pursue? Do I have an intense interest in anything? Does anything drive me? Motivate me? Capture my undivided attention? What do I wish I would have done? Or should have done? Or could have done? Is something to do with design the answer? Passion! That word is spoken so often.
Follow your passion! Follow your passion! Follow your passion!
You get told this over and over again so many times that you begin to question whether anyone has ever really been successful, or even been substantially motivated, to follow their passions. Especially those people who tell you to do so — surely, they have not actually found their passion. It seems so hard to find. A good goal, but let’s get real. Insurmountable. There are lots of things I like and get very enthusiastic about, but I can’t say I’m passionate about them. And you can’t forget you have to earn a living, whether you are passionate about what you do or not.
You hear and read about finding your passion, so much so, that you feel if you haven’t found yours, something must be wrong with you. And, certainly you think no one else has, either. The pressure, the pressure. Why is it so important to my family and friends and my inner still voice that I be passionate about something?
Their admonitions take different tones, from command, to pleading, to expressing concern and sorrow, to lowering their expectations for you. You see / feel/ know what they are really trying to say to you — sympathy, empathy, pity — by those variations on the memes they throw at you.
You don’t have to make a decision about a career until you find your passion!
Don’t worry, you’ll find something to be passionate about!
Not everyone finds their passion.
You begin to feel like a failure in life for not finding your passion. Or that so-and-so you went to school with found theirs… and you didn’t.
The only way to stave all these folks off is to get a job that makes a lot of money. Pursuing money apparently is seen as a legitimate substitute for following your passion.
And that’s what I did.
For almost 40 years.
I pursued money.
Until I found my passion.
In my late 30’s.
My passion for design.
Specifically, jewelry design.
What Is Passion?
Passion, I have discovered over many years in the design world, is something key to a more fulfilling and successful career.
Passion makes sense for design.
Passion is an emotion.
Passion provides the fuel firing you to action.
Almost in spite of yourself.
Passion is often equated with determination, motivation, and conviction — all moving you in a particular direction. But these three concepts do not adequately capture what passion is all about. Passion challenges you. It is intriguing. It provides the principle around which you organize your life.
Passion is something more than a strong interest. Passion is a bit more energetic, directional. And when you want to change direction, emotionally, passion makes this very difficult. Passion is simultaneously a response somewhat divorced from any reason, but in the service of reason, as well. Once you have it, passion can be very sticky and hard to shake off.
Passion puts you to work. It helps you overcome those times when you get frustrated. Or bored. Or anxious.
Passion reveals what you are willing to sacrifice other pleasures for.
Passion is what helps you overcome those times when you get frustrated when something isn’t working out exactly as you want, or when you are anxious about your ability to do something, or you get bored with what you are trying to do at the moment.
But passion is somewhat amorphous. Intangible. Not something solid enough or clear enough to grab and grip and get ahold of.
Is it Necessary To Have A Passion For Design?
In high school, I decided that my passion would be archaeology. I read books and articles about Middle East history and settlement patterns. I loved the idea of traveling. I loved history. I selected a college that had an excellent and extensive archaeology program.
That first fall semester, I took two archaeology classes. In one of these classes, week after week for 18 weeks, I sat through the examinations and resultant reports looking at the remains of a small grouping of houses in Iran. I saw the partial remains of some walls. An area the remains of which suggested it was a kitchen. And lots of dust and dirt and not much else.
The archaeological reports were each done by teams from different countries. From the scant evidence, the Russian report found the settlement to be communal and socialist. They based their conclusions on the positioning of the walls, the proximity of the kitchen area to the walls, and the remains mostly consisting of chicken bones. The German report found the settlement to be more democratic but still communal. Their evidence was based on the positioning of the walls, the proximity of the kitchen area to the walls, and the remains mostly consisting of chicken bones. And the American report found the settlement to be an early example of democracy and capitalism. Their evidence — can you guess? — was based on the positioning of the walls, the proximity of the kitchen area to the walls, and the remains mostly consisting of chicken bones.
I made a discovery in myself and about myself that first semester of college. Archaeology was not my passion. I changed majors. But still no passion.
I still yearned to be passionate about something, however. A goal. A Task. An activity. A career. Anything. My search took almost another 20 years.
Not having a passion did not affect my ability to work and do my job. But I felt some distance from it. Some disconnection. Something missing and less satisfying.
While it took me a long time to find my passion, for others it happens very quickly. You never know. In either case, passion is not something that falls down from the sky and hits you on the head. It is something that has to be pursued, developed and cultivated over time.
Pursuing your passion has many advantages. When you are passionate about something, you can more easily accomplish things which are difficult and hard. Your work and job and life feel more fulfilling. You feel you are impacting the world around you.
A passion for design enables you to become the best designer you can be. It builds within you a more stick-to-it-iveness, while you develop yourself as a designer over many years, and as you learn the intricacies of your trade and profession. Having a passion for design is a necessity if you are to come to an understanding of yourself as a professional practicing a discipline.
Passion gives us purpose. It attaches a feeling to our thoughts, intensifying our emotions. It is transformative. Empowering. Passion allows us to realize a vision within any context we find ourselves.
A passion for design allows us to navigate those tensions between the pursuit of beauty and the pursuit of functionality. It allows us to incorporate the opinions and desires of our clients into our own design work, without sacrificing our identities and integrities as designers. In a sense, it allows our design choices to reaffirm our ideas and concepts, tempering them with the needs, desires, and understandings of our client and the client’s various audiences. It allows us, through our design decisions, to manage the vagaries in any situation and, ultimately, to get the professional recognition we seek.
Where Did My Passion Come From?
It was always just a whispered aside. Something quiet. A glance in one direction, then back so no one would notice. A comment. And the only comment ever said out loud. But hushed. Always and only in that hushed voice. A voice conveying alarm. Embarrassment. Bravery. Humiliation. Horror. Survival. History. Culture.
“She has a number tattooed on her arm. Did you see it?”
And I had. It was difficult to hide. Everyone spoke with so many gestures and drama, whatever the subject, and the sleeves pulled up on their arms.
And not another word was said about it. It — the situation. The larger situation. I never knew their specific experiences. Nor their views. Nor their feelings. Nor their understandings.
They never shared their terror. Or spoke about their anxiety. Or explained what they thought had happened, or how they had managed to survive.
I could not see anything in their faces. Or their eyes. There was nothing different about their skin. Their height. Their weight. The way they walked. Or talked.
There were those in the room who escaped to America during or immediately after the war. There were those in the room who had escaped similar horrors, but many decades earlier, fleeing Poland and Russia and the Middle East. There were their children. And there were their children’s children, I being one of them.
And while I was only 4 or 5 or 6 years old, I remember the collective feeling — even 60 years later — of the hushed voice and the tattooed numbers. I was never privy to any person’s history. I never heard about anyone’s experience. It was inappropriate to talk about it. But that one memory conveyed it all. The full story. It sparked my curiosity. I had to make sense of things. I wrote the full story in my mind. And attached all the full emotions.
My curiosity grew and drove me to make sense of a lot of things as I grew up. Eventually, I found myself curious about jewelry, and began making jewelry. As many of my creations were less than satisfying and successful, I found myself more curious about design. And more emotionally attached to finding answers. My passion grew from there.
Passion Starts With Curiosity
It is the little things that come up every so often that imbues a curiosity in you. That makes you want to make sense of the world. Find understanding. Make sense of things where you do not know all the details. Or where things are headed. But you fill in the blanks anyway. And keep asking questions. To clarify. To intensify. To soften. To connect with other stories your curiosity has led you to.
Passion starts with curiosity. But not just curiosity. Passion is sparked by curiosity, but goes further. It creates this emotional energy within you to make meaning out of ambiguity. For passion to continually grow and develop, such derived meaning must be understood within a particular context, and all the people, actually or virtually present, who concurrently interact with that context, and your place in it.
Passion involves insights. Passion is about finding connections. Connections to insights and meanings. Connections to things which are pleasing to you. Connections to things which are contradictory. Connections to things which are unfamiliar or ambiguous. Connections to others around you. And finding them again. And reconnecting with them again. And again and again.
Passion requires reflection. It demands an awareness of why you make certain choices rather than others. Why particular designs draw your attention, and others do not. Why you are attracted to certain people (or activities), and others not.
Passion affects how you look at things and people. It is dynamic. It is communicative. It affects all your interactions.
Passion is not innate. You are not born with it. It is not set at birth waiting to be discovered. It is something to find and cultivate.
The elemental roots of my passion were present at a very early age. I was very curious. I tried to impose a sensibility on things. While I wanted people around me to like me, that wasn’t really a part of my motivation. I wanted people to understand me as a thinking human being. And I was always that way.
In some respects, this situation when I was around 5 years old has been an example of the root of my passion. My jewelry designs resonate with that hushed, quiet voice. That voice conveys my intent through the subtle choices I make about color and proportion and arrangement and materials and techniques. I usually start each design activity by anticipating how others will come to understand what I hope to achieve. How they might recognize the intent in my designs. How my intent might coordinate with their desires.
My jewelry design pushes limits. It seeks to find the strengths in materials and techniques and leverage them, while minimizing any weaknesses. Passion sustains the energy it takes to push limits.
My jewelry designs tell stories. They tell my stories. They tell my stories so that other people might be a little curious as well and connect with them. And understand my passion for design.
Are Passion and Creativity the Same Thing?
As designers, we bring our creative assets to every situation. But we must not confuse these with the passion within us. Passion and creativity are not the same thing. We do not need passion to be creative. Nor do we need passion to be motivated to create something.
Passion is the love of design. Creating is making an object or structuring a project.
Passion is the love of jewelry. Creating is making a necklace.
Passion is the love of color. Creating is using a color scheme within a project.
Passion is the love of fashion. Creating is making a dress.
After college, I had some great jobs. Lots of creativity. Not much passion.
I was a college administrator for a year. I was hired to organize the student orientation program. As new students arrived at the university in the fall, I created social activities, like dances and mixers and discussions. I arranged for greet and meets in each of the dorms. I worked with each club to generate their first meetings and some of the marketing materials. I set up religious orientations and services for Jewish, Christian and Islamic students. I set up orientations for women’s affinity groups, black groups, latino groups, and many others. I wrote, photographed and published an orientation handbook and a new faces book. I even planned the food services menus for the first week. I did a lot. I loved it. It was very creative.
But not my passion.
I also had an opportunity to become the Assistant Editor of the American Anthropologist for a year. The regular Assistant wanted to go on a sabbatical. The Editor knew me and asked if I wanted to do her job for a year. I edited and saw to the publication of 2 ½ issues. I worked with anthropologists all over the world in helping them translate their work into publishable articles. I loved this job too. I did a lot. It was very creative.
But not my passion.
I decided to pursue a degree in City and Regional Planning. I was getting an inkling that I liked things associated with the word “design.” I liked the idea of designing cities and neighborhoods and community developments. I was intrigued with transportation systems and building systems and urban development.
I was about to enter graduate training in City Planning, which meant moving from where I lived, but a family crisis came up. Physical planning — buildings, cities, roads, neighborhoods — had captured my interest. But I resigned myself, in order to accommodate family needs, to attend a graduate program close to home which emphasized social and health planning, instead.
I got a job as a city health planner, and worked for a private revitalization agency. I assisted in getting government approval for a rehabilitation center. I developed a local maternal-child health system. I guided a group of health care professionals in developing a health care plan for New Brunswick, New Jersey. I organized a health fair. I loved this job. I did a lot. It was very creative.
But not my passion.
As I have come to believe over many careers and many years, the better designer needs both passion and creativity. They reinforce each other. They accentuate. When both are appropriately harnessed, the joys and stresses of passion fuel creativity, innovation and design. Passion inspires. It is insightful. It motivates. Creativity translates that emotional imaging and feeling into a design. Creativity is opportunistic. It transforms things. It generates ideas. It translates inspirations into aspirations into finished projects.
The design process usually takes place over an extended period of time. There can be several humps and bumps. Passion gets us through this. It is that energizing, emotional, motivating resource for creative work. Passion is that strong desire and pressing need to get something done. Passion helps us, almost forces us, in fact, to build our professional identities around that activity we call design.
Passion reveals an insatiability for self discovery and self development. But this sense of self is always contingent upon the acceptance of others. Sounds a lot like the design process and working with clients. You don’t need to be passionate to do design and do it well. You need passion to do design better and more coherently. You need passion to have more impact on yourself and others.
How Is Your Passion For Design Developed?
I continued working in the health care field, teaching graduate school, doing consulting, government health policy planning, and, my last professional job, directing a nonprofit membership organization of primary health care centers.
Working in health care had become such a hollow experience for me, that I jumped off the corporate ladder when I was 36 years old. With a partner, we opened up a retail operation, in Nashville, Tennessee, where we sold finished jewelry, most of it custom made, as well as selling all the parts for other people interested in making jewelry themselves.
Originally, my partner was the creative one, and the design aspects of the business were organized around her work. I was the business person. I made some jewelry to sell, but my motivation was purely monetary. No passion yet.
During the first few years, it was painfully obvious that my jewelry construction techniques were poor, at best. The jewelry I made broke too easily. This bothered me. I was determined to figure out how to do it better.
This was pre-internet. There were no established jewelry making magazines at that time. In Nashville, there was a very small jewelry / beading craft community. No experience, no support. So I did a lot of trial-and-error. Lots of experimentation.
In these early years in our retail jewelry business, two critical things happened which started steering me in the direction of pursuing my jewelry design passion.
First, our store was located in a tourist area near the downtown convention center. Many people attending conventions lived in areas, especially California, where there were major jewelry making and beading communities. They shopped in our store, and from watching their shopping behaviors, seeing what they liked and did not like, and talking with them, I learned many insights about where to direct my energies.
Second, I began taking in jewelry repairs. It became almost like an apprenticeship. I got to see what design choices other jewelry makers made, and I looked for patterns. I got to see where things broke, and I looked for patterns. I spoke with the customers to get a sense of what happened when the jewelry broke, and I looked for patterns. I put into effect my developing insights about jewelry construction and materials selection when doing repairs, and I looked for patterns.
No passion yet, but I took one more big step. And passion was beginning to show itself on the horizon.
I was developing all this knowledge and experience about design theory and applications. Suddenly, I wanted to share this. I wanted to teach. But I wanted to have some high level of coherency underlying my curriculum. My budding passion for design saw design as a profession, not a hobby. I did not want to teach a step-by-step, paint-by-number class. I wanted to teach a way of thinking through design. I wanted my students to develop a literacy and fluency in design.
I inadvertently cultivated my passion for design over time. I did not really follow one. It was a journey. My passion for the idea of design did not necessarily match a particular job. I coordinated it with the job I had been doing. And over time, my job and my passion became more and more intertwined and coherent. For me, it was a long process. I honed my abilities. I leveraged them to create value — personal satisfaction and some monetary remuneration. My passion became my lifestyle. My lifestyle resonated with me.
Passion involves deep introspection. It requires you to be metacognitive — always aware of the things underlying your choices. It requires talking with people and testing out how different ideas or activities resonate with you. What do you care about? What changes in the world do you want to make? What is driving you? What if this or that? Are you willing to give up something else for this? Would people respect me if…?
During this journey, you will systematically test your assumptions about what you think your personal sense of purpose should be. For the most part, there may not be a single answer or one that will last forever. But you reach progressive levels of clarity which give you a sense of direction and fulfillment.
As a designer, it is more important to focus on personal connections represented in your passion, rather than on creating some material thing. You can steer your job to spend more time exploring the tasks you are passionate about and the people you like to share your passion with. Look for inspirations. Reflect on what you care about. It is a good idea to know yourself as a designer and why you are enthusiastic about it. Self-discipline and management go hand-in-hand with passion so that you maintain perspective and continue to create designs. You won’t necessarily love everything you do, but your passion will keep you motivated to do it.
It’s a cycle of self-discovery. But don’t sit around waiting for the cycle to show up and start rotating. Keep trying new things. Exploring. Taking charge of your life. Revisiting things which interested you when you were younger. Thinking about things you never tire of doing. Thinking about things you do well. Recognizing things you like learning about.
What Are The Characteristics of a Passionate Designer?
A prominent country music star and her six-person entourage entered my store. They had heard about our jewelry design work, and were eager to see what we could make for the singer.
She had some specifics in mind. A necklace. It had to be all black. She wanted crosses all around it. Each cross had to be different. Each cross had to be black.
We accepted the challenge.
We began laying out some different ideas and options on the work table. The singer said No! to each idea. The entourage chimed in like a Greek chorus. (Admittedly a little weird and unnerving.) We weren’t really getting anywhere, so we set another meeting date. We would put together more options, and get their opinions. Agreed.
The color of black was easily accomplished. We could string black beads or use black chain or black cord. It would be a challenge to find or design a lot of black crosses, but not impossible.
We put in a lot of hours gathering materials and developing some more prototype options.
The second meeting was no more fruitful than the first. The artist and her entourage could offer no additional insights about what they wanted. Our mock-ups were unacceptable.
We ended the meeting.
We were not, however, going to throw in the towel. Our passion would not let us.
In fact, we were intrigued by the puzzling puzzle put before us. Our passion energized us to continue the chase and find the solution.
We decided we needed more information about why this country music artist wanted this necklace, what outfit and styling she would wear it with, and why an assortment of differing black crosses was important to her.
We put on our anthropology, psychology and sociology hats and played Sherlock Holmes. We approached members of her entourage individually. Her entourage was made up of her stylists. We were able to fill in a lot of the blanks by talking with them. She was going to wear this piece on the road, performing in several concert venues. We got into some discussions about her religion, more specifically, how she practiced it. The best way to describe this was a pagan-influenced Christianity. We had enough information to go by. This was particularly important in picking out crosses, and arranging them around the necklace.
They loved our prototype, and we only had to do a little tweaking.
Three Types Of Passions For Design
It took awhile, and it was always confusing, but I came to realize that not everyone’s passion is the same.
Some designers are passionate about making things. This designer’s passion is focused on an activity. They believe it is possible to make something out of nothing. Designers do, see, touch, compose, arrange, construct, manipulate. This passion is very hands-on and mechanical. Its drive is orderly, methodical, systematic, and directional.
Other designers are passionate about beauty and appeal. They believe it is possible to do whatever it takes to create or develop something of beauty. Designers select, feel, sense, compose, arrange, construct, manipulate. This passion is very emotional and feeling. Its drive follows the senses, the intuitive, the inspiration with an eye always on the ultimate outcome — beauty and appeal.
Still other designers are passionate about making things make sense — coherency. This designer’s passion is focused on resolving tensions, typically between the need for beauty concurrently with the need for functionality. They believe it is possible to resolve these tensions. Designers think, analyze, reflect, organize, present, resolve, solve. This passion is very intellectual. Its drive is meaning, content, sense-making, conflict resolution and balance. This is the type of passion that drives me.
How Does Being Passionate Make You A Better Designer?
I discovered that not every professional designer is passionate about what they do. Nor do they have to be in order to do a good job and make money.
It is not necessary to pursue your Rogue Elephant in order to do a good job. Part of me hopes that such pursuit is a necessity toward this end, but, alas, it has become clear to me that it is not. And pursuing your Rogue Elephant does not solve any problems at work — the stresses, the difficult interpersonal relationships, the need to find people to pay you for what you do.
Instead, Rogue Elephants guide you to better resolve problems. They make the work extra special. The work becomes less a job, and more a process of continual growth and self-actualization. Pursuing your Rogue Elephant helps you more easily clarify the ambiguous and unfamiliar. More readily overcome obstacles. Assist you in finding that sweet spot between fulfilling your needs and intents, and meeting those of others who work with you, pay you for what you do, critique, evaluate and recommend you.
Having a passion for something, that is, pursuing your Rogue Elephant, does not equate to having a professional career. Careers don’t necessarily happen because you have a passion for them. But it is great to have your career and passion co-align. This imbues you with the freedom to create your own meaning and purpose as reflected in the jewelry you design. Deeper thinking. Liberating. Breaking out of the confines of everyday living. Fully engaged. Your authentic self. Confronting the questions about your existence. You are more ready and able to pursue your design without compromise. Expressing your emotions and experiences through design.
CONQUERING THE CREATIVE MARKETPLACE: Between the Fickleness of Business and the Pursuit of Design
How dreams are made between the fickleness of business and the pursuit of jewelry design
This guidebook is a must-have for anyone serious about making money selling jewelry. I focus on straightforward, workable strategies for integrating business practices with the creative design process. These strategies make balancing your creative self with your productive self easier and more fluid.
Based both on the creation and development of my own jewelry design business, as well as teaching countless students over the past 35+ years about business and craft, I address what should be some of your key concerns and uncertainties. I help you plan your road map.
Whether you are a hobbyist or a self-supporting business, success as a jewelry designer involves many things to think about, know and do. I share with you the kinds of things it takes to start your own jewelry business, run it, anticipate risks and rewards, and lead it to a level of success you feel is right for you, including
· Marketing, Promoting, Branding: competitor analysis, developing message, establishing emotional connections to your products, social media marketing
· Selling: linking product to buyer among many venues, such as store, department store, online, trunk show, home show, trade show, sales reps and showrooms, catalogs, TV shopping, galleries, advertising, cold calling, making the pitch
· Resiliency: building business, professional and psychological resiliency
· Professional Responsibilities: preparing artist statement, portfolio, look book, resume, biographical sketch, profile, FAQ, self-care
SO YOU WANT TO BE A JEWELRY DESIGNER Merging Your Voice With Form
So You Want To Be A Jewelry Designer reinterprets how to apply techniques and modify art theories from the Jewelry Designer’s perspective. To go beyond craft, the jewelry designer needs to become literate in this discipline called Jewelry Design. Literacy means understanding how to answer the question: Why do some pieces of jewelry draw your attention, and others do not? How to develop the authentic, creative self, someone who is fluent, flexible and original. How to gain the necessary design skills and be able to apply them, whether the situation is familiar or not.
The Jewelry Journey Podcast “Building Jewelry That Works: Why Jewelry Design Is Like Architecture” Podcast, Part 1 Podcast, Part 2
PEARL KNOTTING…Warren’s Way Easy. Simple. No tools. Anyone Can Do!
I developed a nontraditional technique which does not use tools because I found tools get in the way of tying good and well-positioned knots. I decided to bring two cords through the bead to minimize any negative effects resulting from the pearl rotating around the cord. I only have you glue one knot in the piece. I use a simple overhand knot which is easily centered. I developed a rule for choosing the thickness of your bead cord. I lay out different steps for starting and ending a piece, based on how you want to attach the piece to your clasp assembly.
SO YOU WANT TO DO CRAFT SHOWS:16 Lessons I Learned Doing Craft Shows
In this book, I discuss 16 lessons I learned, Including How To (1) Find, Evaluate and Select Craft Shows Right for You, (2) Determine a Set of Realistic Goals, (3) Compute a Simple Break-Even Analysis, (4) Develop Your Applications and Apply in the Smartest Ways, (5) Understand How Much Inventory to Bring, (6) Set Up and Present Both Yourself and Your Wares, (7) Best Promote and Operate Your Craft Show Business before, during and after the show.
2 one-foot lengths of thicker cord, like 1–2mm leather or waxed cotton 3 ft of bead cord, about .5–1.0mm thick
Tools needed: Clip board or bulldog clip Bic lighter or thread zapper Glue like G-S Hypo Fabric Cement or Beacon 527 or E6000 Chain nose pliers
SILK WRAP
Sometimes, the ends of your pieces are messy. There may be a lot of knots there. Or glue. Or something else you would like to hide.
You might use one of the jewelry findings called ends to hide and cover this messiness up.
Or you might do what is called a silk wrap, and use a cord to coil over the mess, and make the ends look pretty.
Silk wraps result in a very finished, professional look.
The silk wrap will also provide some extra support there, if you think the ends of your pieces might be weak points of vulnerability, or, you want to make the clasp assembly easier to open and close.
I want to review how to make a 10-coil silk wrap.
NOTE: 10-coil is a good goal, but it can be more or less, depending on how it looks visually, and the actual volume of the space needed to be wrapped.
I am going to make a silk wrap for a 2-strand necklace strung on leather cord.
Where the two cords come together at each end, I have attached my clasp, and, in addition, I have bound the two leather cords together with some thread tied into a bunch of knots. I have put a drop of glue there.
I am going to use some size #18 bead cord, which is a .5mm thick, choosing a bead cord in a complimentary color to the leather, and make a silk wrap to hide the threads, knots and glue.
I start with a 10” — 12” piece of size #18 bead cord.
Step 1:
Make a loop towards one end, leaving a short tail off this loop (about 1 ½”).
This gives you a loop, a short tail and a long tail.
Step 2:
Lay the loop over the 2 leather legs, about 1” from the end of the leather cords where the clasp is attached.
The short tail is the shorter tail off the loop. The short tail should extend past the position where the clasp is connected to the two leather cords.
We are going to call the rest of the 10” silk wrap cord the long tail.
So, the short tail should lay next to and side-by-side with the leather stringing cord along its outer or top surface.
The long tail will run along the bottom surface of our stringing cord.
The end of the long tail is closest to the end of the stringing cord and the clasp.
Step 3:
We are going to use the long tail to make 10 coils around our 2 leather stringing cords, starting from the clasp end, and working towards the loop we have created with our silk wrap cord.
Your long tail should be below the two leather cords. We are going to coil clockwise.
NOTE: If it is more comfortable, you can coil counter-clockwise.
We want to end up with the coils tightly bumped up against each other, with no gaps between them.
Again, our first coil is closest to our clasp. And we are moving away from the clasp towards the loop end.
So, to begin, let’s make that first coil. Take the long tail, go up, over and around the short tail.
Continue going behind both leather stringing cords, and back down below the leather stringing cords.
Making this first coil wrap is the most difficult. At about the 3rd coil, you can gain a lot of management control, tightening the first three coils, and then continuing to add additional coils.
As you continue making coils, keep the tension tight on your long tail as you do the coiling, so that the coils do not loosen up and unravel.
Step 4:
Make the rest of the coils.
Continue wrapping the long tail around the short tail and the 2 leather stringing cords, headed away from the clasp end.
Make about 10 coil wraps.
Again, be sure the coils are tight.
Compress them (which means close the gaps between any two coils) together with your fingers or use a chain nose pliers to slide along the leather stringing cords and bump up against the coils.
Step 5:
Clamp everything tight between your fingers.
Bring the long tail through the loop, going from front to back, or top to bottom, depending on how you are holding your piece.
Step 6:
We are going to create a knot.
Hold onto the long tail, and pull on the short tail. It might be easier for you to pull the long tail away from you and the short tail towards you.
Keep pulling on the short tail. You want to pull the loop inside the coil wraps, but not yet all the way.
Bring the loop just under that first coil.
Step 7:
Put a drop of glue, preferably G-S Hypo Fabric Cement, where the loop and long tail connect right at that first coil wrap.
Step 8:
Using your fingers or a chain nose pliers, pull on the short tail and pull the loop all the way into the coil wraps,
To finish off our knot.
Step 9:
Cut the tails.
In this demonstration, I’ve used a nylon cord. I can hold the ends of the trimmed tails near a flame, like from a bic lighter or thread zapper, and melt the ends.
With other materials, I would use a drop of glue on each trimmed tail end. Preferably G-S- Hypo Fabric Cement.
CONQUERING THE CREATIVE MARKETPLACE: Between the Fickleness of Business and the Pursuit of Design
How dreams are made between the fickleness of business and the pursuit of jewelry design
This guidebook is a must-have for anyone serious about making money selling jewelry. I focus on straightforward, workable strategies for integrating business practices with the creative design process. These strategies make balancing your creative self with your productive self easier and more fluid.
Based both on the creation and development of my own jewelry design business, as well as teaching countless students over the past 35+ years about business and craft, I address what should be some of your key concerns and uncertainties. I help you plan your road map.
Whether you are a hobbyist or a self-supporting business, success as a jewelry designer involves many things to think about, know and do. I share with you the kinds of things it takes to start your own jewelry business, run it, anticipate risks and rewards, and lead it to a level of success you feel is right for you, including
· Marketing, Promoting, Branding: competitor analysis, developing message, establishing emotional connections to your products, social media marketing
· Selling: linking product to buyer among many venues, such as store, department store, online, trunk show, home show, trade show, sales reps and showrooms, catalogs, TV shopping, galleries, advertising, cold calling, making the pitch
· Resiliency: building business, professional and psychological resiliency
· Professional Responsibilities: preparing artist statement, portfolio, look book, resume, biographical sketch, profile, FAQ, self-care
SO YOU WANT TO BE A JEWELRY DESIGNER Merging Your Voice With Form
So You Want To Be A Jewelry Designer reinterprets how to apply techniques and modify art theories from the Jewelry Designer’s perspective. To go beyond craft, the jewelry designer needs to become literate in this discipline called Jewelry Design. Literacy means understanding how to answer the question: Why do some pieces of jewelry draw your attention, and others do not? How to develop the authentic, creative self, someone who is fluent, flexible and original. How to gain the necessary design skills and be able to apply them, whether the situation is familiar or not.
The Jewelry Journey Podcast “Building Jewelry That Works: Why Jewelry Design Is Like Architecture” Podcast, Part 1 Podcast, Part 2
PEARL KNOTTING…Warren’s Way Easy. Simple. No tools. Anyone Can Do!
I developed a nontraditional technique which does not use tools because I found tools get in the way of tying good and well-positioned knots. I decided to bring two cords through the bead to minimize any negative effects resulting from the pearl rotating around the cord. I only have you glue one knot in the piece. I use a simple overhand knot which is easily centered. I developed a rule for choosing the thickness of your bead cord. I lay out different steps for starting and ending a piece, based on how you want to attach the piece to your clasp assembly.
SO YOU WANT TO DO CRAFT SHOWS:16 Lessons I Learned Doing Craft Shows
In this book, I discuss 16 lessons I learned, Including How To (1) Find, Evaluate and Select Craft Shows Right for You, (2) Determine a Set of Realistic Goals, (3) Compute a Simple Break-Even Analysis, (4) Develop Your Applications and Apply in the Smartest Ways, (5) Understand How Much Inventory to Bring, (6) Set Up and Present Both Yourself and Your Wares, (7) Best Promote and Operate Your Craft Show Business before, during and after the show.
I don’t mean to drag a poor Elephant by its tail, kicking and screaming, into our bead and jewelry world against its wishes. Nor do I perceive the elephant to be a threat, like you might see if you found an Elephant in the boudoir, or the fine China store. And I don’t want you to shut your eyes and pretend not to notice that this Elephant is here, standing shoulder to shoulder with every beader and jewelry maker around.
The Elephant is not a joke. And the fact that it is Rogue makes it more important than ever to figure out why it’s here, why it keeps glaring at me, whether on the far horizon or close enough to feel its breath. Why it teases me. Why it commands and monopolizes my attention. Why I have to catch it. Corral it. Adorn it as it charges across the countryside with jewelry which flows this way and that way and up and down and sideways and towards you and away from you and always looks perfect — a Rogue Elephant perfection.
So absurd. A Rogue Elephant among size #10 English beading needles, and Czech size 11/0 seed beads, and Austrian crystal beads. It seems so worldly, yet other-worldly, my Elephant. It’s not my muse. It’s not my Cassandra. It has no secret plan or strategy. It does not depend on its size to make its point. It does not hesitate to stomp and chomp and clomp because the beads before it are raku or glass or gemstone or crystal or metal or plastic. But a Rogue Elephant in the middle of my craft room forces upon me a completely different logic, so that I can make sense of it all.
And that’s what happened with me. Though not all at once. Struggling excitedly, often clueless, creative frustration, wonderous illusion — that’s how I would describe my over 35 plus years stringing beads, weaving beads, combining wire with beads, soldering silver with beads, entangling fibers with beads. Somewhere along the way I felt that Rogue Elephant staring at me from a distance. I moved closer to him. And all the applications and all the techniques and all the materials and all the making-selling-making-selling-making-selling began to cohere into something very real. Very meaningful. Integrally resonant. Purposeful. I discovered my Rogue Elephant and beaded him.
You Cannot Separate The Parts From The Design
You stare at a bead, and ask what it is. You put some thread on a needle, then the bead on the needle, and ask what to do. You stitch a few beads together, and wonder what will become of this. You create a necklace, and ask how it will be worn. And you stare at each bead again, and think where do all these feelings welling up within you come from — beauty, peace and calm, satisfaction, magic, appeal, a sensuousness and sexuality. Your brain and eye enter into this fantastic dance, a fugue of focusing, refocusing, gauging and re-gauging light, color, shadow, a shadow’s shadow, harmony, and discord.
You don’t just string beads on string and voila a necklace. There’s a lot involved here.
You have to buy beads, organize them, buy some extra parts, think about them, create with them, live with some failed creations, and go from there. If there wasn’t something special about how beads translate light into color, shade and shadow, then beading would simply be work. But it’s not. You have to put one next to another…..and then another. And when you put two beads next to each other, or one on top of the other, you’re doing God’s work. There’s nothing as spectacular as painting and sculpting with light.
This bead before me — why is it so enticing? Why do I beg it to let me be addicted? An object with a hole. How ridiculous its power. Some curving, some faceting, some coloration, some crevicing or texturing, some shadow, some bending of light. That’s all it is. Yet I am drawn to it in a slap-silly sort of way.
When I arrange many beads, the excitement explodes geometrically in my being. Two beads together are so much more than one. Four beads so much more than two. A hundred beads so much more than twenty-five times four. The pleasure is uncontainable. I feel so powerful. Creative. I can make more of what I have than with what I started.
And the assembling — another gift. String through the hole, pull, tug, align, and string through the hole, pull, tug, align, and string through the hole, pull, tug, align, and string through the hole, pull, tug, align. So meditative. Calming. How could beads be so stress-relieving, other-worldly-visiting, and creative-exciting at the same time?
Contemplation. To contemplate the bead is to enter the deep reaches of your mind where emotion is one with geometry, and geometry is one with art, and art is one with physics, and beads are one with self.
So these days, I confront my innermost feelings about beads. What I enjoy, and what I do not. What I have learned, and what I have not. What I want to achieve, and what I fear I cannot.
It’s not that, originally, I wanted to bead much of anything. I imagined what I wanted to create, and quickly found I couldn’t create it. This is when I sensed my Rogue Elephant somewhere out there. An abundance of creativity coupled with frustration and doubt sent out some kind of aroma attracting him. Unintentional. Unplanned. Probably not wanted at that time. An Elephant and a pheromonal response, nonetheless.
I had very specific ideas of what my beadwork should look like, how it should be put together, and how it should function. I did not want to be considered a painter who uses beads, or a sculptor who uses beads. I visualized myself more than an artist. I wanted to be considered a jewelry designer. A jewelry designer who legitimately uses beads, and not paints, and not clays or stone. A designer who makes things for people to wear, not merely admire as something hung on a wall, or resting on an easel, or sitting on a pedestal. This was my dilemma.
Alas, this was the basis of all my fears. Could jewelry designers intentionally design with light in a fundamentally different way than painters use paint, or sculptors use clay or stone? If I beaded a mannequin, I’d be painting or sculpting. But what if I beaded a Rogue Elephant? Something that moved. Something that reacted differently in different situations. Something that appeared in different contexts. Something that would have to look good and make my Rogue Elephant look good, no matter what. Would my beadwork stand up to some test of grammar, poetry, art, vision and even love?
I was tentative, at first, about beading, but that Rogue Elephant kept getting in my way. To tame it, to get rid of it, to make sense of it, I had to bead it.
But how? Should I? Could I? Would I? It’s huge! It’s fast! It’s ornery!
Should I make my Elephant some kind of necklace or anklet to wear? How about a little hat? I can tubular peyote around its trunk OK, but what about its ears? What do I do there? That mid-section is awfully rotund. Fringe would be pretty, hanging around some kind of blanket. But, alas, wouldn’t it just drag along the ground?
The main problem is, though, that this beast keeps moving. How am I ever going to get anything to look good, and stay looking good, on this Elephant if it keeps moving? After all, Rogue Elephants don’t Pose. They’re not “Vogue” Elephants. They’re “Rogue” Elephants. They’re too busy tossing their heads at everything else in sight.
If I use large beads, I can accomplish this feat faster, but not necessarily as elegantly. Should my Elephant be elegant? Sophisticated? Earthy? Adventurous? Bohemian? Fashion-aware or fashion-I-don’t-care?
I cannot get this Rogue Elephant out of my mind. The thoughts of beading it seem insurmountable, unconquerable. My eyes strain, my hands ache, my back stiffens at these thoughts. It will never get done. I won’t finish it. I won’t do it. I most certainly don’t have the time. I’ll try something easier, like a toy rabbit or a stick. A small stick. A very small, very straight, perfectly round stick. Surely not an Elephant, a Rogue one at that.
Calm down, I say to myself. Stop hyperventilating. Wipe those clammy palms. Don’t let the task before you scare you before you even start.
I grit my teeth. I stand up straight. I squeeze my hands into a fist. I hold my fisted-hands stiffly and tightly against my right and left sides. I lift my chin up ever-so-slightly until my eyes meet his. I stare that Rogue Elephant right into the face for those few seconds it stands in my field of vision. I will bead you. I will bead you. I will bead you. I set my mantra going. I try to focus on my inner self. I reach way back to grab my inner being, setting its life force and motivation on track to complete this awesome task.
I will bead you. I can bead. I will bead you. I can bead. I will bead you. I can bead. I will bead you. I can bead.
Glue. Thank God someone invented glue. I could corner that Elephant, pour buckets of glue on him, and use a leaf blower to blow a pile of beads right onto that beast. They’ll stick. I’ll be done. Whatever happens, happens. That’s what I’ll do.
But I wouldn’t be happy. And that Elephant would probably want to scratch and itch. Beads would pop off. The glue would yellow. That Elephant wouldn’t be able to walk with any sense of style or grace. It might trip. It would probably fall down, actually. And not be able to get up. Pitiful. It would lose its Rogue-ness. It’s essence of being. I would tame it, yet more than humble it. Where’s the excitement? Glue just won’t do.
I will bead you. I can bead. I will bead you. I can bead. I will bead you. I can bead. I will bead you. I can bead.
How about Mardi Gras beads? These beads, already ironed into place onto a string, could be wrapped around and around and around. Purple Iris’s. Topaz AB’s. Olivine Lusters. They’d be colorful. They’d shine. They’d sparkle. It would be like lassoing a steer — over and over again. I don’t know if my Elephant would stand still for that. Perhaps I could corral him. I could tape one end of the bead string to the tail. Then go around and around and around his body until I reached the other end of the trunk. I’d parade the Elephant in front of all the other Elephants out there, and they’d all want to look as dapper. Everyone the Elephant meets, in fact, will want to be wrapped in bead-ropes. How easy, how simple, how divine.
Once I let my Elephant out of the corral, however, I fear the bead-ropes will reposition themselves and slip off and look sloppy. My Elephant would have to lose its Rogue-ness to pull off this look. My Elephant would have to stand still and pose. I don’t think my Elephant would stand for that. In fact, I know he wouldn’t. The jungle is not a circus, and the banks of the jungle watering hole do not provide a level pedestal for such an event. My elephant would be perplexed. And the result would not be satisfactory beadwork. He’d be off in an instant. This would be a mess — a big Mardi Gras mess. Only sanitation workers in New Orleans getting paid much overtime would have any determined appreciation.
I will bead you. I can bead. I will bead you. I can bead. I will bead you. I can bead. I will bead you. I can bead.
Just what is the recipe then? Take needle and thread, add beads, mix lightly, separate whites and darks, bake, turn once, and voila? Do I have to have a recipe? A determined strategy? A plan of action? Can’t I just bead it? Do I have to think about how to get the beadwork to stay in place? Look good? Look great? Must the Elephant still be able to run with the beadwork on? If the Elephant runs, must the beadwork stay on? And still look good? Oh, dear, my head is beginning to hurt. I don’t know if I can do all this. And be satisfied.
And the poor Elephant. It looks at me one more time. It’s green eyes dart on me. Challenging me. Daring me. Perhaps fearing me and my determination. Perhaps pondering the why’s and wherefores of my insistence that he be beaded — in totality, Rogue-ness and all. The Elephant turns its head, touching his long torso from shoulder to belly with his trunk. His tusks shift uncomfortably. I’m sure the Elephant is wondering How! — How would the beads go on? How would they be arranged? How could he continue to walk and drink and eat and talk? How would the other Elephants react? How could anyone ever begin to bead a Rogue Elephant?
My Elephant looks at me one more time — staring directly into my eyes. It’s more than a glance. He stares, as if to say, it can’t be done. My Elephant lifts its trunk, extends its ears, snorts, shakes its tail, turns and darts away toward the horizon.
I have only one regret from that time. I assumed my Elephant had no desires. Only my desires which was to adorn him. But, Elephants are smart. They have feelings. They think about things. They do have desires. And these should influence what I do.
But that chant in my head, an ear worm, I can’t let it go.
I will bead you. I can bead. I will bead you. I can bead. I will bead you. I can bead. I will bead you. I can bead.
I follow him.
It Has Been A Journey
I wanted to be great all at once. It didn’t work out that way. The first three years, I was only into it for the money. Selling jewelry is always a high. Began doing a lot of repairs and getting interested in things from a more academic perspective — why things broke and why things didn’t. Besides bead stringing, I began to learn wire wrapping, then silver smithing, and it was at that point, when I was creating sterling silver pieces through fabrication and soldering that I began to hear and smell and feel that Rogue Elephant, still forever in the distance.
I created a shopping lady brooch. A mix of sterling and brass. Her legs moved. In one hand, I made a shopping bag, which moved. Some layering, some riveting.
Then, my Maori mask brooch. I wanted to experiment using hard, medium and easy solder in the same piece. I created 3 layers. I cut out different parts of each sheet of silver to create an overlay of positive and negatives spaces. I wanted to duplicate the face tattoo, and give it a lot of dimensionality. I hammered the piece to create a concave curve. Then soldered the pin back to it. I created what felt like a true piece of art.
I came late to bead weaving. I only learned the various bead weaving stitches because I was creating a school where that would be one of the foci. Such small beads. Vowed never to use size 15/0 seed beads — so tiny. [Of course, I couldn’t keep that vow.] I had difficulty finding instructors willing to teach from what I call the Design Perspective. Required too much thinking. Too much work. As I was told often, they could make just as much money teaching a step-by-step approach than the way I wanted them to teach. So, I took on the responsibility for teaching these classes myself. Found out I loved bead weaving.
Now when I was in about year 11 of my journey, I found design. I felt compelled to find and bead and bejewel my Rogue Elephant. I wanted to find / bead / bejewel my bead strung pieces, my wire wrapped pieces, my metal fabricated pieces, and my bead woven pieces. Everything.
My journey unfolded in stages.
Contemplation
This is my story. A fable for all jewelry artists who aspire to become one with Design. How to Bead a Rogue Elephant is a collection of personal perspectives and experiences on the issues and inspirations that drove me, and that drive other bead and jewelry-making artists in their designs.
Design is the operative word here. A Rogue Elephant does not present an obstacle, nor create any opportunities, for the jewelry designer, unless that designer understands, follows through and is committed to Jewelry as an Art Form, and realizes that jewelry is art only as it is worn.
Jewelry as art isn’t a happenstance. It is made up of a lot of different kinds of parts. These must be strategically and thoughtfully brought together. They are brought together as a kind of construction project. The results of this project must be beautiful and appealing. They must be functional and wearable. The result should be more appealing and more satisfying and more better in every way than its parts. And this all comes about through design. Jewelry must be designed. And designed it is.
Rogue Elephants are big, and jewelry design is a big task. Rogue Elephants move in unpredictable, yet forceful ways. And jewelry must be designed with movement in mind. Rogue Elephants come with a surface scape, texture and environment, against which the jewelry must look good. And again, good jewelry emerges primarily from the design perspective and the control of the bead, and all the other incumbent parts by the jewelry artist. And as I mentioned before, I learned this over time, Rogue Elephants are not stupid. They want something from you in return for letting you bead them. They have desires. They seek value, and wander off when they think there is none. The jewelry designer cannot ignore all this. Or substitute their own values for his.
Most beaders and jewelry makers don’t pursue their Rogue Elephants. They don’t even think about getting into the hunt. They never get to the point where they can fully answer the question: Why some pieces of their jewelry get good attention, and others do not? And they don’t think about this question. They have fun making things. They match outfits. They give gifts. They sell a few pieces. They use pretty beads and other components. And sometimes they get compliments. Other times they do not.
Also, they don’t necessarily know what to do with the pieces they are playing with. What are they made of? What happens to them over time? Should they be included within the same piece of jewelry? What should they be strung on? Will anyone appreciate the materials? Are the materials appropriate for the technique? What happens when the shade and positioning of the light source changes? If necessary, what can be substituted for some pieces preferred, but not found?
These jewelry makers don’t control these pieces, or the process of combining them. They follow patterns and instructions. And do these again. And again and again. Their artistic goals are to complete the steps and end up with something. They might stick to one or a few techniques they feel comfortable with. There is an unfamiliarity with the bead –What is it? Where did it come from? What makes it special as a medium of art and light and shadow? How does it relate to other beads or clasps or stringing materials or jewelry findings? When they look at the bead, what do they see? Will the wearer and viewer experience the same sense and sensibility? In order to bead their Rogue Elephant, they will have to know how to leverage the strengths of the materials they are using and the strengths of the techniques they want to employ, and minimize any weaknesses.
Luckily, beading and jewelry making for many jewelry designers is an evolving obsession. It’s not something learned all at once. This obsession leads them to contemplate the bead and its use. The bead and its use in art. The bead and its use in jewelry. The bead and its use in design. The bead and its relationship to the designer’s studio. Beads are addictive. Their addictiveness, hopefully, eventually leads the beader or jewelry maker to seek out that Rogue Elephant that haunts them along the distant horizon. They know they want to bead it. They’re not sure how. But they steer themselves along the pathway to find out. This pathway isn’t particularly straight, level or passable. But it’s a pathway nonetheless. And the ensuing possibilities for learning and growing as an artist and designer along the way reap many worthwhile and satisfying rewards.
They may not have their Rogue Elephant on their radar screen. Yet. Yet, is the operative word here.
PLAY
The first step in this journey is to figure out how to get started with beads and jewelry making. You need supplies. You need workspaces and storage strategies and understanding how to get everything organized. You need to anticipate bead spills and many unfinished projects. You need to learn to plan your pieces. You need to get a handle on the beads (and all the other pieces), and how to use them.
DABBLING
Whatever the reason, most beaders and jewelry makers don’t get past PLAY. They are content following patterns and making lots of pieces, according to the step-by-step instructions in these patterns. They might fear testing themselves against broader rules of artistic expression. They might not want to expend the mental and physical energy it takes to get into design. They just want to have fun. And if they never notice that Rogue Elephant hugging the horizon, that’s fine with them.
At some point, however, some beaders and jewelry makers will want to start educating themselves to get a little below the surface. That is always my hope. Rather than mechanically following a set of steps, or randomly assembling things bead by bead, you want to know more about what is really going on. How do I hold my piece to work it? How do I manage my thread tension? How do I select colors? What clasp might work best? If you find yourself at this point, PLAY is not enough. You need to start tapping more into your inner, creative self and capabilities.
CREATE
For those beaders and jewelry makers for whom the Rogue Elephant is very disturbing, no matter how far away he may be, there are these wonderfully exciting, sensually terrific, incredibly fulfilling things that you find as you try to bead your Rogue Elephant, ear, trunk, feet, bodice and all.
You learn to play with and dabble with and create arrangements and control the interplay of light and shadow, texture and pattern, dimensionality and perspective, strategy and technique, form and function, structure and purpose. You begin sharing your designs with friends and strangers, perhaps even teaching classes about how to make your favorite project, or do your preferred technique. You might also create a small business for yourself and sell your pieces. Your sense of artistry, your business acumen, your developing design perspective — you need all this, if you are to have any chance of catching up with your Rogue Elephant, let alone beading him.
You question things about the jewelry you make. What is jewelry? What do I want it to express? What do I want it to do? How is the design of jewelry related to perceptions, cognitions, assumptions, values, and desires? Why do people admire it? Wear it? Collect it? Pay for it?
As you begin to evolve beyond the simple craft perspective to one of artistry and then design, you begin developing your creative soft and hard skills.
SAFARI
As your jewelry pieces become more the result of your design intuition and acuity, you begin to wonder how other artists capture, be-jewel, and release their own Rogue Elephants. How did they get started? What was their inspiration? What motivated them to delve into beading, stick with it, and take it to the next level? Do they make their pieces for show or for sale?
You begin to find your passion. This passion sustains you over however long it takes you make any piece of jewelry. You begin to recognize how some pieces of beadwork and jewelry are merely craft, and others are art. You get frustrated with beautiful pieces that are unwearable and fashionable pieces that lack durability and pieces that sell that are poorly constructed. You see many good ideas, some well-executed, but many not.
As you compare yourself as Designer to other jewelry designers all over the world, this is partly a personal adventure as you self-experience your intellectual growth as a designer. And it is partly an adventure of evaluating how well other designers have succeeded in this same quest, as well. You find there are many quests and many pathways. Nothing is perfect. Nothing is preset. There are no social norms or cultural rules you have to conform to, if you don’t want to. For the most part, you are on your own.
One very revealing pathway is following how designers contemporize traditional designs. Still another follows the designer who revives vintage styles. Or the pathway that finds the artist elevating fringe, edging, strap, bail and surface embellishment to the same level of art as the centerpiece. And yet another pathway which looks at multimedia beadwork, and how designers seek to maintain the integrity of each medium within the same piece. You might explore that pathway which involves collaboration.
LITERACY
As you begin to articulate what works and does not work in various pieces in terms of form, structure, art theory, relationships to the body, relationships to psychological and cultural and sociological constructs, you complete your evolution as a jewelry designer. You add a body of design theory and practice to your already honed skills in art, color, bead-stringing, bead-weaving, fabrication and wire working. You create for yourself a Designer’s Tool Box — a set of hard and soft skills and strategies for conquering the unknown, the problematic, and the unfamiliar. You become fluent in design. Flexible in your approach. Original in that you are able to distinguish your works from those of others. You set yourself clearly on the path to find and bead your Rogue Elephant.
FULFILLMENT
Your adventure along this pathway towards design — your success at beading your Rogue Elephant — is very fulfilling. Whether you walk, run, skip or crawl or some mix of the above, it’s a pathway worth following. You’ve learned to transcend the physicality and limitations of your workplace, tools and supplies. You’ve learned to multi-task and organize and construct your project as if you were architecting or engineering a bridge. You have discovered how to dress and present yourself for success, including strategies for self-promotion. You have learned to anticipate how your various audiences — wearer, viewer, buyer, exhibitor, collector, student, teacher, colleague — will critically determine whether your piece feels finished and successful. You get experience incorporating all this knowledge into how you organize and manage your design process, its plan, its rhythm, its operation.
You’re a Designer. You have learned to present yourself and promote yourself as a Jewelry Designer. You’ve evolved as a Beader and Jewelry-Designer and are feeling a true satisfaction.
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CONQUERING THE CREATIVE MARKETPLACE: Between the Fickleness of Business and the Pursuit of Design
How dreams are made between the fickleness of business and the pursuit of jewelry design
This guidebook is a must-have for anyone serious about making money selling jewelry. I focus on straightforward, workable strategies for integrating business practices with the creative design process. These strategies make balancing your creative self with your productive self easier and more fluid.
Based both on the creation and development of my own jewelry design business, as well as teaching countless students over the past 35+ years about business and craft, I address what should be some of your key concerns and uncertainties. I help you plan your road map.
Whether you are a hobbyist or a self-supporting business, success as a jewelry designer involves many things to think about, know and do. I share with you the kinds of things it takes to start your own jewelry business, run it, anticipate risks and rewards, and lead it to a level of success you feel is right for you, including
· Marketing, Promoting, Branding: competitor analysis, developing message, establishing emotional connections to your products, social media marketing
· Selling: linking product to buyer among many venues, such as store, department store, online, trunk show, home show, trade show, sales reps and showrooms, catalogs, TV shopping, galleries, advertising, cold calling, making the pitch
· Resiliency: building business, professional and psychological resiliency
· Professional Responsibilities: preparing artist statement, portfolio, look book, resume, biographical sketch, profile, FAQ, self-care
SO YOU WANT TO BE A JEWELRY DESIGNER Merging Your Voice With Form
So You Want To Be A Jewelry Designer reinterprets how to apply techniques and modify art theories from the Jewelry Designer’s perspective. To go beyond craft, the jewelry designer needs to become literate in this discipline called Jewelry Design. Literacy means understanding how to answer the question: Why do some pieces of jewelry draw your attention, and others do not? How to develop the authentic, creative self, someone who is fluent, flexible and original. How to gain the necessary design skills and be able to apply them, whether the situation is familiar or not.
The Jewelry Journey Podcast “Building Jewelry That Works: Why Jewelry Design Is Like Architecture” Podcast, Part 1 Podcast, Part 2
PEARL KNOTTING…Warren’s Way Easy. Simple. No tools. Anyone Can Do!
I developed a nontraditional technique which does not use tools because I found tools get in the way of tying good and well-positioned knots. I decided to bring two cords through the bead to minimize any negative effects resulting from the pearl rotating around the cord. I only have you glue one knot in the piece. I use a simple overhand knot which is easily centered. I developed a rule for choosing the thickness of your bead cord. I lay out different steps for starting and ending a piece, based on how you want to attach the piece to your clasp assembly.
SO YOU WANT TO DO CRAFT SHOWS:16 Lessons I Learned Doing Craft Shows
In this book, I discuss 16 lessons I learned, Including How To (1) Find, Evaluate and Select Craft Shows Right for You, (2) Determine a Set of Realistic Goals, (3) Compute a Simple Break-Even Analysis, (4) Develop Your Applications and Apply in the Smartest Ways, (5) Understand How Much Inventory to Bring, (6) Set Up and Present Both Yourself and Your Wares, (7) Best Promote and Operate Your Craft Show Business before, during and after the show.
